The World Could Always use more Heroes
by BlueFH
Summary: It has been a few months since Overwatch's recall, and since then the agents have returned to active duty. Now, new heroes and villains alike are rising all around the world. And in a time of crisis and disorder, Talon is growing in numbers and becoming a greater threat than ever before. Things can only get better, right? OC-centric. Contains multiple OCs
1. New beginnings

**Contains lots of OCs and may or may not contain OCxOC relationship(s)**

 **I apologize if the story isn't amazing, but I'm not the best writer and this is my first fic so don't judge too hard. Either way I had lots of OCs I wanted to get out there so I decided to write anyways. Hopefully you stick around!** **Oh and the story will be narrated in 3rd person!**

 **I do not own Overwatch or anything related, only my original characters.**

It has been a few month since Overwatch was recalled. All of the agents had eventually decided to report back in and had since then protected humanity as best they could. It was a stressing situation really, Talon had been on a rise recently and Overwatch recently had to fly to King's Row to stop them from detonating an EMP bomb in the omnic's faces!

They were currently set up in Watch point Gibraltar, courtesy of Winston by the way.

The situation with Omnics wasn't getting any better either; all around the world was conflict between humans and Omnics, and the crisis in Russia was killing a lot of people.

At least it wasn't all bad though, ever since Overwatch's recall, Lucio and decided to join into the madness, and later Pharah joined in as soon as she could, and she repeats, she did not "fangirl" when she heard Overwatch had been recalled. Genji even convinced Zenyatta to join up as well (Not really, he was going to join either way but it was amusing), so at least they had that going for them, which was nice.

Right now, everyone was tired and had a really long day, and they were currently having dinner at the main hall. Reinhardt was talking about the great memes of 2026 to Lucio, was playing StarCraft, Angela was lecturing Pharah about being careful in combat, and McCree was just talking nonsense to Genji. Zenyatta just stood around silently, he was still getting used to being with Overwatch but he quite enjoyed it there.

"So you see, the memes back then were so great! Oh where do I even begin! The rage comics! Or or dat boi, OH and I remember when people started to go crazy on 9gag about the crusaders! But not German crusaders! Oh what great times!" Exclaimed Reinhardt in his thick German accent.

"Oh man must have been great! Oh well we have new memes now don't we?" Lucio said.

"And you have to remember to stay behind cover Fareeha! Just because you have a suit doesn't mean you are invincible! I just worry its all, but be careful!" Angela said to Pharah and Pharah just nodded and kept eating.

Tracer was really happy to see how Overwatch had turned out to be but she noticed Winston wasn't there, probably nose in his work! She went off to find him and found him in his lab.

T: tracer

W: Winston.

T: "Aww c'mon luv you can't be here on your own while everyone's enjoying themselves!"

W: "I'm sorry Lena but I've been really busy lately."

T: Fiiiiiiine just don't bury yourself in work!"

They kept conversating for some time about their missions and how Overwatch was reunited.

Meanwhile at Talon headquarters,

"Sir, we have word from Delta Squad at England" said a Talon commander.

"What is it? Did they manage to retrieve project A-66?" Reaper growled, still relatively pissed off and their failure in King's Row.

"Yes sir, they successfully retrieved the machine from the Overwatch outpost." the soldier replied.

Project A-66 was essentially a serum that would greatly improve their soldiers. It would grant enhanced strength, agility and endurance. Essentially, it was like a second Super Soldier Program. With it, their soldiers would be stronger, more focused, and deadlier; however, the chemicals in it that were responsible for the enhancements were largely volatile and unpredictable if used in large doses, it was unknown what it would do to a person. Talon didn't know what crazy effects the serum would have, some theorized that the victim would receive powers due to mutations, but Talon decided not to risk it.

Unfortunately for them, Overwatch had spied on them and assaulted their HQ, confiscating their project of sorts. However, Talon retaliated as they tracked down the outpost where Overwatch was keeping project A-66 and retook it.

"They also said that they were set up in an abandoned house in one of the less active parts of the city, but they stated that they are starting to arouse suspicion." The soldier added.

"Good, send a dropship to pick them up as soon as possible." Reaper growled in response.


	2. Rumors

"Well I'm done packing up. The flight to England is tomorrow so at least I don't have to worry about packing" said Nathan. And by packing up, he means hours of struggling trying to pack up all his stuff as effectively as possible, but still failing miserably and still having to pay the extra fee at the airport.

Nathan was relatively short, well a bit below average but don't tell him that, brown eyes and short brown hair and was 24 years old (just so you guys and gals can picture him).

Nathan had recently gotten a job offer in London. It was quite well paying and better than any option he had in Latinamerica, besides he always liked the idea in Europe, so why not? His country was beautiful but working in England would just benefit him more.

"Alright… Today's the day" Nathan told himself as he boarded the plane. The flight was pretty goddamn long so he hoped he was seated next to someone nice.

*Small time skip*

"Finally I finished setting all my shit up. My job won't start until a few days so I might as well get to know the place".

He decided to walk around the town and decided to stop by an Italian restaurant and have lunch there.

He continued driving, but a house caught his eye. It looked empty, and there was a sign that said "For sale", but there was no number.

He got closer to it, and saw a few blue lights flicker from within the inside.

"What the hell is going on here?" He asked.

One of the citizens heard him.

"There are rumors that Talon operatives are set up there and working on some sort of machine, but no one has dared to enter." The citizen told him before walking off.

Curiosity overtook Nathan; he tried to break in through one of the windows, and it worked!

He kept walking around the small house until he saw the lights flicker again inside one of the rooms and he heard chatter of a small group of people.

He peeked through the entrance and saw 5 talon operatives, probably of high rank, working on a sort of machine that held a bright blue liquid.

 _Okay, I should get out of here now, I shouldn't have come in the first place!_ Nathan thought to himself.

But at that very one of the soldiers saw him for a split second and started to walk to his location.

 _Shit! Don't fucking panic._

But the footsteps kept getting louder.

 _Don't fucking panic!_

And **LOUDER!**

 _DON'T FUCKING PANIC!_

And they got so loud that Nate could hear the soldier just behind him.

 ** _OKAY, MAYBE PANIC!_**

The soldier saw him and Nate immediately started to scream, gaining the attention of the remaining 4 soldiers.

"Calm down citizen! We do not want to hurt you!" The soldier told Nate, but he was too scared to react.

The soldiers cornered him and he began to run into the room where the machine was, which took the soldiers off guard for a second, but soon they had their guns pointed back at him.

"Watch out, the machine behind you is extremely volatile! KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!" The soldier repeated.

"Ah fuck it! Boss will kill us if something happens, just shoot the idiot!" Immediately after one of the soldiers tried to shoot Nate, but the bullet barely missed and hit the machine instead.

Just after that, some wires shot out and injected Nate with all of the serum.

Then there was an explosion.

And it all went to black…

 **Woo the first OC introduced! And dat cliffhanger doe! Suffer! It shouldn't be long before I update so stay tuned. And then again, my writing may or not suck so please do leave criticism in the comments.**


	3. A new face

"Delta squad come in!" Reaper said.

"Delta squad, can you hear me?!" He repeated.

"DELTA SQUAD, ARE YOU THERE?!" He shouted before giving up.

"Whats the problem cherie?" Widowmaker asked.

"They're gone... Delta squad, something happened." Reaper replied.

Meanwhile in England,

Nathan slowly woke up, and got up.

"Agh, everything hurts." He winced.

He noticed the exploded machine and 5 dead bodies around him.

"How did I not die?" He asked himself.

He got out of the house, making sure no one saw him and got into his hover-car.

"Fuckin' great, a parking ticket!"

He drove back home, showered and went to sleep.

Meanwhile at Talon co. TM

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THE PROJECT WE HAVE BEEN WORKING FOR OVER A YEAR WAS LOST!" Reaper roared, trying to keep his composure but failing miserably.

"We are sorry sir, but all we know now is that the machine exploded, we don't really know anything else." The Talon commander explained, fearing he would be executed on the spot.

"I... I understand, just look into it and keep me updated." Reaper growled, calming down a bit.

Meanwhile at Watchpoint: Gibraltar co. TM,

T: "Winston, you heard about the explosion in London?"

W: "Yeah I heard, do you know what happened?"

T: "Well I heard that the Talon machine exploded, but that it was also found empty, oh and the cops said that there was a car outside the house when the incident occured." Tracer said.

W: "Do you know who owned that car?"

T: "I think the car was owned by a guy called Nathan Smith, or so the license plate suggests."

W: "Well how about we pay him a visit, according to my studies, the serum was extremely dangerous in large doses, and if this Nathan somehow got injected with it, he could suffer serious side effects."

The Next Day.

Nathan woke up to a sunny, beautiful morning, unfortunately though, his body felt like complete and utter shit.

"Agh, what the fuck is happening to me..." Nathan told himself. He felt tired, his body ached like hell, and he felt sick and like he was gonna barf his organs out.

Matter of fact, as soon as he reached the bathroom, he barfed like he never barfed before.

"Ouch... Must have been that serum from yesterday."

When he took his clothes off to shower though, he looked really healthy, infact, he even looked really fit. Last thing he had heard, he was average, not 6-pack.

He turned off the shower, but he... broke it? He looked at the handle and it was pushed in, like it was crushed.

"What the... did I do that?"

 **Sorry for the short chapter but I just wanted to make an update and give some hints as to what will happen next before I went to sleep, tomorrow i'll work on a better chapter. Also im sorta making the story up as I go along. I already have backstories for most of my OCs, i'm just not sure how to introduce them, so i'll focus on Nathan for now.**


	4. Revelations

Nathan sat dumbfounded, looking at his crushed shower handle.

 _I... I don't understand... What is happening to me._

Anyways, his job started today, so he'd best get ready, he'd deal with the broken handle later.

Nathan got into his car, his body still hurting like hell.

*20 minutes later*

"So you're the new guy huh? Nate right?" His boss asked.

"Yep, thats me." He responded immediately, trying his best to hide his internal torture.

Thankfully, his boss seemed like a really chill kind of guy. He seemed only a few years older than Nate but quite professional.

"A'ight, here's your task for the day, tell me if and when you finish." The boss handed him a paper describing what he was going to be working on.

"Understood, i'll get to it." Nate responded." Nate said and headed off to his office space.

*A few hours later, past noon*

"Luvs, looks like he isn't home." Tracer told Winston and Angela.

Angela had insisted to tag along, saying that she was a doctor and could possibly try to cure Nate if anything happened.

"Maybe he has a job?" Winston remarked.

Tracer thought, it was a Monday after all.

"Well, I don't think it'd be wise to stay around here, so i'd suggest we come back later." Tracer stated, and the rest agreed.

Meanwhile at generic office incorporated,

Nate's condition had only gotten worse since the morning. He couldn't focus, his body ached even more, and he felt light headed and nauseous.

His boss had started to walk around, checking up on everyone to make sure they were working and not browsing 9gag or something, but when he got to Nate's stall, he saw a very sick Nate. He had visible bags under his eyes, was massaging his head, and he hadn't gotten much work done.

"Ya... don't look very well there bud." The boss said.

"Yeah, im really sorry, i'm sick but I didn't want to miss my first day of work. Agh, it's only gotten worse since the last few hours." Nate slowly replied.

"Tell you what, you are not in working condition, take the rest of the day off, and try to eat things like soup, I know its a generic tip, but you should take it anyways." The Boss told him.

"Alright, thanks." Nate replied, and with that, he went to the bathroom before leaving the office.

He got to the bathroom, only to vomit again. He washed himself, but right after that, his hands, and later his entire body got engulfed in some sort of blue fire, no, it wasn't fire, rather energy? He started to slowly lift off the ground, defying gravity.

 _What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck! Stop!_ Nathan thought to himself, and he stopped levitating, dropping down to the ground.

 _Okay... fly?_ He commanded his own body to do what happened a few seconds before, and he was immediately engulfed in energy once again and started to fly again.

 _Holy fuck!_

Nathan felt better than before, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, but he still felt relatively sick. Either way, he didn't want to stay in the office, what if he felt sick again or started levitating? So he just decided to head home.

*Small time skip*

He had gotten home, and he practiced on his "flying skills".

He theorized that the serum was giving him his "powers" and the reason he felt so bad was because he was being altered genetically, but if that wasn't it, he didn't know what was. He still felt bad, so the serum must've still be changing him in some way.

"Ah, aah, AH, ACHOO!" Nate sneezed all of a sudden, but what he didn't expect was energy to blast out of his hands, leaving a hole in the wall.

But Nate, noticed that he didn't fell sick or hurting anymore, so he assumed that was it.

"Okay, so i'm apparently super strong, can control energy and fly. Sounds like a normal day right?" He told himself in a sarcastic manner.

And it dawned to him, with powers like these he could become a hero!

He was very well aware of the state the world was in.

And he remembered a quote from Tracer,

"The world could always use more heroes."


	5. An unexpected visit

It had been a few hours since he left work early and found out about his powers.

So basically, he had spent the last 4 hours practicing how to fly and blasting energy. Again, a regular day right?

That's when Nate heard the sound of a drop ship or something similar landing outside his house.

 **KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

 _Who could possibly be knocking on my door?_ Nate thought before going up to the door and opening it.

"Hey there luv! Is this the house of Nathan Smith?" Tracer asked with joy.

Okay, he did not expect that.

"Ummmm, yes... But, may I ask what this is about? I mean, you don't usually get visited by 3 ex-Overwatch agents?" Nate replied, panicking a little on the inside.

"We understand that you are surprised- is that a hole on the wall?" Angela said, before finishing her sentence, confused.

"Yeaaaah, about that-" Nate tried to explain but failed horribly.

"We heard you were involved in an explosion related to Talon operatives, we would like you to come with us, if thats fine." Winston stated.

"O- okay I suppose." Nate replied.

 ***Small time skip, inside the drop ship***

"Okay, first of all, is it true that you were involved in this?" Winston asked.

"Well, yeah I admit." Nate nervously replied.

"Hey luv, don't feel nervous, we're only doing this for your safety; now, would you care to explain what happened up to this point?" Tracer reassured him.

"Alright, here it goes. I had recently moved in because of a job offer that i'd been given. However the job wouldn't start up until a few days so I decided to tour around the city, and eventually, I got to the "abandoned house", which really caught my attention because, it just looked really suspicious and I saw some light sparking inside it when it was meant to be unoccupied. So, let's just say that curiosity took over and I got in through a window. Then I peeked into the main room and saw 5 talon soldiers and a strange machine behind them that they were fixing. One of them saw me peeking and found me, which caught the attention of the remaining 4, until eventually they tried to shoot me, but shot the machine instead. Right after that, some wires with syringes on them shot out and injected me with all of the serum, the machine exploded and I blacked out. A few hours later, I woke up, but the Talon soldiers were dead. I got out and went back home. The next day I woke up and felt like shit, I felt sick, my body hurt and I felt really lightheaded and nauseous. I tried to shower but when I turned the shower off I accidentally crushed the handle, the rest of the day went relatively normally except I was still feeling really bad. The next day I went to work but my condition only got worse, so my boss decided to let me go home early. Before I left, I was in the bathroom when I started glowing and sorta started, flying? But when I tried to stop it, it did, almost as though I was controlling it. After that I felt better, as though things were setting in, but I still felt a bit unusual. Then when I was home, I sneezed and energy blasted out of my hands, creating the hole in the wall, and well, after that I really didn't do much until you knocked on my door." Nate finished explaining, getting all the information out, while the 3 just listened to him.

"I see, it seems the serum has mutated you and given you superhuman abilities, probably why you felt so bad before you got your powers. However, while you may feel healthy, it doesn't change the fact that the serum could be deadly to you, so we'd like to put you under medical care to make sure you aren't suffering from side effects." Winston said.

"OH OH, and if this guy truly has powers, maybe he could join us! We could train him and he could learn to control his powers. You know, just like how I always say-" Tracer said before being interrupted.

"Cheers luv, the cavalry's here?" Nate said.

"No silly! I was going to say "The world could always use more heroes". I mean, especially now!" Tracer stated.

"Well, we could see about that too, I mean, if thats what you want of course, Nate." Winston replied.

"So its true, you guys really have reformed! And are you really asking me that? Of course i'd love to be a hero, it was like my dream since I was a kid!" Nate replied, almost shouting with joy.

"Well, looks like we have a fan!" Angela said.

 **Looks like Nate will be joining the ranks soon enough. Also, im not sure if I should keep making short but constant chapters, or long but less constant chapters. I'll see what I like better.**


	6. Welcome to Overwatch

Tracer, Winston, Mercy and Nate arrived at Watch point: Gibraltar and headed straight to the lab.

"Alright Nate, would you care to demonstrate your abilities?" Angela asked.

"Okay, i'll try." He responded.

He focused, closed his eyes and raised his hands. After a few seconds, his hands were engulfed in pure, bright, blue-yellow energy, and later, once again focusing, his entire body was engulfed in energy and he started to fly. He tried flying to the right, and then to the left before descending into the floor once again.

"Okay, I did not expect that." Lena stated.

"Hey, mind if I take that metal bar?" Nate said, pointing to a metal bar sitting in a table.

"Not really, go ahead, what will you do with it anyways, its really strong." Angela replied.

Nate grabbed it, placing one hand on each end, and started trying to bend it. Within a few seconds, the bar was completely bent, surprising the 3 Overwatch agents.

"Holy hell!" Tracer said after seeing what happened.

"Okay, for the last test, I wonder if we could go outside?" Nate asked, to which the 3 nodded.

 ***Small time skip, now in the outsides of the outpost***

"Okay, this one is sorta hard to control, so excuse me if I take a while." Nate said.

He aimed his hands at the sky, and his hands engulfed in energy again, but this time, 2 balls of energy flied out of his hands, knocking him back a little.

"Okay, so you're super strong, for some reason you can fly and blast energy out of your hands?" Tracer stated.

"Well it's pretty clear he does have powers, now could we run some tests to see if you are suffering from any side effects?" Winston asked, to which Nathan nodded. They headed back to the lab.

 ***After running the tests***

"As it stands, it doesn't seem like you are suffering from any side effects at all, our tests didn't detect anything. You are perfectly normal, well, apart from your mutations." Angela told Nate.

"Well, all I can say is, welcome to Overwatch!" Winston said, with a hint of happiness in his voice.

"Oh my god! Is this really happening? Please tell me im not dreaming!" Nate cried out.

"You aren't dreaming silly! Hey, I think its time we introduced you to the team! Don't ya think luv?" Tracer said.

All 4 of them walked out the lab and went to the main hall.

"Hey everyone! We'd like you to meet someone!" Tracer said.

 _I can't believe it! They're all here!_

In front of Nate stood Genji, Mei, Torbjorn, Reinhardt, McCree, Pharah, Dva, Zarya, Hanzo, Lucio and Zenyatta.

"Ohhh, he is he?" Hana asked, clearly interested.

"Oh I don't know, maybe just someone that has actual superpowers and could be the next Overwatch agent!" Tracer responded.

Now that caught everyone's attention.

"What kind of powers do you have zhen?" Reinhardt asked.

"Well, might as well demonstrate." Nate replied, soon his body engulfing in energy and flying up into the air, before going back down.

"Ooooooohhhhhhh." All of the agents said, almost in unison.

"Well, I didn't expect that." McCree said.

 ***Small time skip, in training room***

"Alright Nate, do you have any sort of combat experience?" Winston asked him.

"Well I am a black belt in karate, its mostly my powers that I have to nail down" Nate replied.

"Alright, now, you are going to face off against a few waves of training robots. Don't worry about destroying them since they rebuild themselves." Winston stated.

"Okay, sounds good to me." Nate said.

"And the training course starts now!" Winston stated.

Soon enough a wave of 10 robots started to surround him.

Nate ran up to a few of them, punching one in the gut (or atleast where the gut would be), punching right through and leaving a hole in the robot. He then uppercut another robot, tearing the head off and tried blasting one of the robots but missed, and was knocked back a bit. He'd have to work on that. The robot countered by shooting him in the chest a few times. They didn't hurt him but they did sting a lot.

Nate aimed again and blasted another energy ball at the robot, which hit it and blew it up. He proceeded to fly to another group of robots, closing the distance and kicking on of them in the face with his foot before landing. He elbowed one of the robots, stunning it before punching it 3 times, breaking the neck of the bot. He tried to fire at the robots but missed again, being shot again in the arms. Nate put out the remaining bots with two charged blasts. So he could charge them huh? He'd keep that in mind.

The second wave of robots approached him. Nate quickly finished them by firing a ray of energy, taking out the bots one by one as the ray made contact.

"Definitely not too bad for your first run! You can still improve on your aim though, you just have to nail that down." Winston said, congratulating Nate.

"Okay, thanks!" Nate said.

"Also, it should be worth mentioning that all of us practically live here, we would recommend that you live here with us, and don't worry, if thats what you choose, we'll help you move your stuff. You can stay in one of the spare rooms." Winston told him.

"Well that does make sense! Alright, i'll live here, sounds awesome. What about my job though?" Nate asked.

"I don't think it would be easy to fly from Gibraltar to England every day! Besides, the organization covers your expenses so you have nothing to worry about!" Winston replied.

And with that, Nate was officially a part of Overwatch.

 **Okay so thats Nate's introduction! I think I may introduce some more of my OCs in the following chapters now that Nate is in a good spot.**


	7. A Specter in the night

It was a dark, rainy night in New York. In the outskirts of the city, there was a warehouse that acted as the main outpost of the notorious "Golden Kings" gang that Specter had been busy tracking down. He had easily taken down their other outposts. And now, the Kings found themselves cornered, like rats. He grinned at the thought of the King's leader begging for forgiveness, but he would not be swayed so easily.

He remembered his past, how Talon had taken everything away from him during the Omnic Crisis. Everyone was so busy trying to fight against the Omnics and their Bastion units that Talon saw it as the perfect time to strike. For no other reason than to make more of a name for themselves, they attacked New York, and they took it all from him, his home, his family, every last thing. That day changed him forever, and he was left with no other place to go than to the streets. Now, many years later, he struck in the night as Specter, a name that left fear in the hearts of many cartels and gangs of the city.

He learnt to develop tools of his own, and perfected them across the years (and may or may not have stolen some of it) to fight crime so no one else should suffer what he went through. Now he had an arsenal of weapons and tools at his disposal. He had a mechanical eye, a grappling hook, a cloaking device, a multi purpose silenced rifle, arm mounted hard light blades, multi-purpose throwing knives and a taser, for when he felt a bit of mercy for his opponents.

Specter threw a few pulse knives at the outer walls of the outpost, revealing his enemies through his mechanical eye. After seeing what defenses the Kings had, he planned his attack. He snuck in through the roof, using his hook to get up, and activated his cloak, landing near a small group of guards.

"Huh, what was that?" One of the guards said, reacting to the thud he heard near him.

"What, ya scared? It's nothing, there's nothing here other than us." Another guard replied to him.

He got behind one of the guards, still cloaked and ready to strike.

"Ya reckon it could be that Specter guy that everyone's been talking about? I mean, he took down all of our minor outposts, and he's taken down multiple gangs before" The first guard responded.

"Im telling ya, its nothing, that Specter guy is a coward, always hiding in the shadows, he wouldn't dare come to our main outpost, we have too many defenses, and he knows it." The second guard told him.

" _But thats where you're wrong, buddy..."_ Specter said, with his dark, echoing voice.

"HOLY SHI-" The guard screamed, but was cut short by a blade cutting through his chest and piercing his heart, killing him instantly.

"WARN THE OTHERS!" The guard screamed to the other, but before they could do anything, Specter got his rifle out, shooting them both in the head.

" _Not even a challenge."_

Specter moved on, sticking to the shadows. He headed for a more active part of the headquarters, he pulled out 3 explosive knives, effortlessly throwing them into 3 groups of people.

"Wait, whats that?" One of the guards stated.

 **BOOM!**

Specter detonated the knives, sending the groups flying, their corpses torn and engulfed in flames.

He activated his cloak and grappled to a vantage point.

He took out his auto rifle and fired down unto another group of gang members, dropping them in seconds.

"HEY HE'S UP THERE! SHOOT HIM!" A gang member screamed out.

Immediately they started to shoot at Specter's location, landing a few shots.

" _Damn it"_ His cloak was on recharge, so he had no other option than to go down and face them, which really wasn't a problem.

He dropped down from his vantage point, using his hook to slow the fall, and he threw a pulse knife at the crowd at the same time.

Specter landed behind some cover, using the pulse knife to his advantages, easily sighting the enemies even behind walls.

He dropped a few of them with his rifle before being forced back to cover by LOTS of gunfire.

" _Gotta reload"_ Instead, he pulled out a few throwing knifes, throwing them and dropping 3 more gang members.

" _Argh, there's still 20 more!"_ Specter said before noticing a jeep with a mounted machine gun. Bingo.

Specter activated his cloak and headed for the gun, unnoticed.

" _Surprise, motherfuckers!"_ A barrage of bullets was thrown into the crowd, dropping 10 of the criminals before a rocket was fired at the jeep, throwing him out.

" _Huh, that, agh, actually hurt"_

Activating his cloak once again, he got into the middle of the crowd and killed 4 of the gangsters, slashing them with his sword. Eventually his cloak and blades ran out of charge, for the moment at least. The group of gangsters managed to get a few shots into him, but Specter hooked one of the gangsters, pulling himself towards him and jump kicking him in the face, breaking his skull.

He followed up by 2v1ing another pair of guards, blocking their kicks. He then rapidly punched one of the gangsters and finished with an uppercut, knocking the gangster out cold. The second guard took this as a chance to strike, managing to hit the vigilante a few times. Specter dodged to the right, swinging at his enemy, but the gangster blocked and counter-attacked. Specter trying kicking the guy, but the criminal ducked. He grabbed the gangster by the head and hit him with his knee, then kicking the gangster in the chest, knocking him back a few meters. The poor guard tried pulling out his pistol, but was tased, falling to the ground.

" _Almost feel bad for them"_

However, while he was busy, one of the guards ran off to call reinforcements, and the remaining 3 started shooting at him, piercing the vigilante's armor and forcing him into cover.

" _Agh, my arm!_ "

Specter noticed that one of the guards was missing, and headed for the console room.

"You think i'll let you call for help so easily!?"

Specter grabbed an explosive knife and lobbed it at the console, detonating it, destroying the console and killing the gangster before a connection could be established.

He returned to the scene, activating his cloak, and reappearing behind the gangsters.

" _Behind you_ " The vigilante whispered as he tapped the shoulders of one of the gangsters. He chopped him up with his blades, leaving him to bleed out, and pulled out his rifle, eliminating the remaining 2 gangsters before they could do anything.

All around him was corpses, fire, suffering. It had grown to be a familiar sight to him. Each time he brought down a gang, this is what he would see. The event that took placed 6 years back, changed him. He no longer felt any empathy for criminals of any form. To be precise, he rarely ever felt emotion.

"OH, you thought you were done? You may have destroyed our communications console but im still standing, BRING IT!" A gangster, no, the LEADER of the Golden Kings stood before him. He was wearing a military grade juggernaut suit, and was holding a minigun in his hands.

" _Well, shit_ " was all Specter could say before the leader of the Kings opened fire.

He immediately ran for cover, trying to figure out what to do next.

"You didn't think I would bring extra guns now did you? YOU WORTHLESS COWARD SCUM!" The gangster shouted out before pulling out a grenade launcher, lobbing a few grenades right next to Specter.

The grenades exploded, forcing Specter out of cover, and breaking his arm and leg.

Specter grappled to a high vantage point, stopping to think.

" _Shit, my knives won't pierce him, my rifle won't either, and he is immune to my taser in that damn suit_." He got an idea, it was risky but it was the only way he would defeat the guy.

" _Only got a 5 explosive knives left, better make them count_ "

Specter threw 2 explosive knives, landing them on the chest of the gangster, and detonating them. They didn't hurt the gangster, but it knocked him back and gave the vigilante enough time to act. He grappled down to where the gangster was and climbed unto him, punching into his visor until it cracked. The gangster tried reaching for his weapon but noticed Specter had sliced it with his blades, rendering it useless.

"AAARGHHH!" The gangster screamed as he tried swinging at the vigilante. His punches were slow but they packed a punch. The gangster managed to punch Specter once, but the vigilante dodged his second swing and got behind him, stabbing him with both of his blades.

"A _ny last words?_ " Specter asked the criminal as he climbed up to him, his blades right next to his neck, slicing his head clean off. He didn't even let the criminal scum answer the question.

Specter headed to the gang's database, downloading any valuable information. He planted an explosive.

He then planted an explosive in the gang's weapons cache, and one in the remaining vehicles, making sure the explosions chained, so that any remaining Golden Kings members couldn't use them for bad.

Specter walked out of the warehouse.

 **Click.**

A huge explosion covered the entire warehouse, now covered in flames.

In the end, he broke an arm and a leg, his armor was degraded and broken in many areas, and many bullets pierced his armor and hurt him. But he didn't care. If he got hurt, if his armor got broken, it was the price he had to pay. He was a vigilante, a protector, a shadow in the night, and he would do whatever it took to protect the innocent from monsters like these.

 _He is Specter._

 **Alright second OC introduced, and a super long chapter (I just got really excited)! He is a dark, emotionless vigilante, incase you didn't noticed. And I may or may have not based him a little bit off of Batman, but who cares! His armor is pure black and he has a hood and a large cape. None of his face is visible except for 2 bright blue eyes that shine in the dark of his hood (Those aren't his actual eyes but part of his mask dammit). And yes i'm keeping his name unknown for now, but he is older than Nathan, so he's about 28.**


	8. The Titan

The news played at Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Many of the agents gathered to watch it.

"Last night, the gang known as the "Golden Kings", that was terrorizing the people of New York city, was taken down, their main headquarters destroyed. There was a large explosion that crippled the warehouse. It is suspected that the individual known as "Specter" was responsible of this act." A low quality photo of a hooded figure, with bright blue eyes and black armor appeared on the screen, before the news resumed.

"Specter has been responsible for the destruction of multiple gangs across the United States across the past few years. His methods are gruesome, and he has gone and taken down heavily armed outposts single handed, but this has been his largest act yet. The NWPD haven't entered the scene, due to rubble and burnt metal blocking the way, but the IDSF have confirmed that Titan, the IDSF's most elite unit, has been sent to aid in the investigation soon." With that, the news ended.

"Ya really think that one man took down a criminal organization, not to mention took down a warehouse with around 50 people guarding it?" Lena asked the rest.

"I'm not sure Lena, but the guy shown in the picture looks like he is armed to the teeth, and i've seen the same guy on the news before, and he's always somehow linked to gangs falling appart, so i'd say its not too far fetched." Nate replied.

"Agreed, I mean look at Hanzo, he's assaulted Shimada castle and taken down multiple people just to meditate!" Genji stated, gaining a chuckle from the agents.

"I personally think he could make a fine recruit! If he truly is that experienced, he could make a great agent!" Winston suggested.

"But he operates illegally! And what of his methods? He literally went in and murdered at least 40 or more people!" Angela cried out.

"Well Angela, so do we. And I don't agree with his methods, but he seems to have the same goals as us, fight crime, and we could use any help we can get." Winston replied.

 **Meanwhile at International Defense and Security Forces (IDSF) headquarters,**

"Look son, I know you ain't exactly a detective, but we want you to go and help out the police with the investigation. We trust you, you are our most prized soldier, your combat expertise and focus is unmatched by any other of our recruits, you have made us all proud. You see, your suit grants ya the strength you need to move all the rubble out of the way and help the cops. We want you to get in there, check for damages, see if there are any survivors, and see if there's any data we can use." The sergeant told Tyler, otherwise known as Titan.

"Yes sir, i'll see it done." Tyler replied.

"Alright, you will deploy in half an hour, get your suit on!" The sergeant said, and dismissed the soldier.

Tyler had recently been granted the Titan-S MK.5 suit. It allowed him to fly, boosted his strength, and gave him access to tons of weaponry, from dual plasma guns, missiles, lock on systems, a really helpful HUD, and even a nifty personal shield to protect him from enemy fire. As the ISDF's most prestigious soldier, he had been given the honor of wearing the suit to protect humanity. The suit had grey plating with orange details. The helmet had a V shaped orange visor and an orange power cell that powered the suits. Each cell was built to last for months, but they eventually had to be replaced. His primary form of fire were two plasma cannons, one on each arm. They were relatively compact and had a high fire rate but they could be fired as a continuous ray, however this drained the power quicker.

After equipping his suit, and checking all his gear, he was given the green light, and he flew off to his objective.

He arrived at the warehouse, where the police were waiting for him.

"Ah Titan! We've been waiting for you! Now, could you help us open the doors and clear the rubble?" One of the cops told him.

"With pleasure" Titan replied.

He opened the doors, and cleared the rubble, but what they saw next was just plain disgusting. He swore he could hear one of the cops barfing in the background.

It was an absolute carnage, bullet holes, corpses and burns covered the place. Blood stains covered the walls, and all the vehicles were exploded. At least the fire died out.

There was a group of dead gangsters, probably outside watch, one pierced in the chest, and the other two shot in the head.

They moved to the inside of the warehouse. Even more corpses, many of them riddled with bullets, probably from one of the machine guns in the vehicles, and there was a decapitated juggernaut user in the background. Out of 45 people, only 7 were found alive, and probably because they were lucky enough to not get shot in somewhere fatal.

There was no salvageable data, everything was blown up or broken. That Specter guy was either a psycho, or a really broken person, to have no empathy on these people and murder them in cold blood, or leave them to die, it wasn't human.

He activated his comm. "Sir, we found only 7 survivors, and I think they are gonna need a psychologist rather than jail time after this. There is no usable data, and there's corpses everywhere. I think thats about it, all we can really do is clean up the place and restore it." Titan told the sergeant.

"Alright son, thats it for now, you can return to HQ for debriefing." The sergeant replied. With that he headed off, even he wouldn't be able to sleep very well after what he saw.

 **Yey new OC introduced! I already described his abilities so i'll just describe him physically and tell a bit of his backstory blah blah. He's a around the same age as Nate, just a bit older, so almost 25. He's got messy light brown hair, and blue eyes, and is average in height, he is relatively muscular and has no facial hair cuz I want it so (Though I don't exactly see how thats relevant :P). You can picture him as you want for all I care but thats the key description. He joined the IDSF since he was 19 to fight for the world since it was in such a state of chaos, and through the years, he rose through the ranks, proving to be an experienced marksman, and a determined and focused soldier. He eventually became the IDSF's most prized unit and was given the Titan-S MK.5 suit, hence the name Titan (Sorta how Pharah joined Helix Security and was eventually given the Raptora suit). Oh and the ISDF is an organization that does the work that the police can't do, but it isn't quite the military either. Sorry for the short chapter but its late where i'm at but I still decided to throw an update out there for the heck of it. I'll work on the next chapter tomorrow.**


	9. Talon vs Overwatch

"Alright Nate! For the past few weeks you have greatly improved in combat efficiency, i'd say you are mission ready!" McCree told Nate after his training session.

"Oh oh but one more thing! You have to design your costume!, you can't be going out there without your own outfit!" Tracer said.

"Well, i'd like a blue and black or grey color scheme. Oh and some cool gloves and boots, as well as a mask, im not really picky." Nate said.

"Oh and what will be your codename? Like your hero name. For example, my name is Lena, but my codename is Tracer!" Tracer stated.

"I don't know, but when I use my powers it looks like I have an Aura around me because of the energy, so Aura sounds fitting." Nate replied.

 ***A few days later***

"Hey Nate! Come over here!" Tracer shouted out when she saw Nate across the hall.

"Alright, whats up!" Nate replied.

"Oh nothing, except your costume is ready! Come over to the lab!" She replied.

When he got there, he was greeted by Winston. Inside the lab was a blue and black costume. The mask was batman style in the fact that his mouth wasn't covered, and there was a thin layer of plastic that covered each of his eyes, but allowed him to see through. And his hair was also exposed, like Soldier 76s mask. Then there was his shirt, which was made out of thin and flexible armor, and had short "sleeves". It was mainly black with blue markings, such as lines and a blue symbol that sorta looked like an A in the center, and his pants pretty much got the same features, but he also had a pretty cool belt. And he got the gloves and boots he asked for. (I know this description sucks ass but it's much harder to describe it in words than it is for me to picture it in my mind)

He put it on, and it was actually quite confortable. It looked pretty sick too.

"Okay, now you're mission ready!" Winston exclaimed.

"And speaking of missions, Talon has just attacked Manhattan. We want you to come with us. The team will be me, you, Reinhardt and Mercy, meet us at the dropship in five minutes!" Tracer said before leaving the room.

"Well, better get a move on! Good luck!" Winston said, and with that, Aura left for the dropship.

 ***Meanwhile at Manhattan***

"So cherie, why exactly are we doing this?" Widowmaker asked.

"Because we want Overwatch to come, they think this is just a regular attack to inflict terror, but we will ambush them, they won't expect us to be here" Reaper replied in his cold and rough voice.

All of a sudden, a dropship was heard, and soon 4 Overwatch members, but one caught Reaper's eye. He was new, or atleast he'd never seen him before.

"Everyone, get behind!" Reinhardt shouted as his barrier deployed, blocking the fire from the Talon goons.

"Ha ha ha HA HA HA!" Reaper laughed as he reappeared in front of them, taking everyone off guard.

Widowmaker took position behind the agents and fired at Reinhardt, but the bullets didn't damage him, yet.

"Dammit! I can't cover you from both sides! Just attack!" Reinhardt shouted, and everyone immediately complied.

Mercy gave Reinhardt a nano boost and he charged ahead, whacking the talon goons.

Tracer threw a bomb at a group of Talon agents and blinked at them.

Aura went to cover. "Okay, just like in training, visualize and execute. Time to prove yourself"

He went out of cover and started to fly, blue energy engulfing him, and empowering him. This took the talon agents of guard. He flew at the Talon goons, firing at them, taking them out one by one. He landed and kicked one of the agents, sending him flying at a wall. He grabbed another agent's gun and crushed it, punching the agent and knocking him out.

Widowmaker kept firing at the agents when Reaper talked to her over the comms.

"Everything is going according to plan, keep going!" Reaper growled.

Widowmaker kept on firing, until she saw a strange figure, watching her.

"What the-" Was all Reaper could hear from her before her comms went offline.

"Widowmaker come in!" No response.

Widowmaker fired at the figure that took out her comms with some sort of her EMP grenade. That also meant that her Visor was out of the question.

All of a sudden, the figure disappeared, using some sort of cloaking system. The figure reappeared behind her.

 _"Did I surprise you? How about I introduce myself? I am Specter, good to meet you. Now I assume you are Widowmaker, responsible for multiple assassinations across the globe. Do you ever sit down and wonder how the ones close to who you murder must feel? I assume not. You are just an emotionless killer, a monster! The kind of monster that took everything from me. My home, my family, my friends. How about I return the favor!"_ Specter shouted before activating his blades, charging towards her.

The fight went on, Reinhardt had his shield up, covering himself and Mercy while he got closer to the enemy, but Widowmaker had seemingly disappeared.

Tracer blinked behind a group of enemies, taking them by surprise and taking out a few of them, and recalled out of the area before the rest could shoot at her. The Overwatch agents were outnumbered. The police were out of the question, Talon's tech was far more advanced, and they would easily be taken down.

"Hey, I heard you guys needed help!" Titan shouted at the Overwatch agents.

"Eat this!" He locked on to the Talon agents and fired rockets at them.

"Titan? What are you doing here?" Aura asked.

"Oh well you know I just heard there was a major shootout between two illegal factions and I decided to come check it out. Though don't worry, im not here to detain you." Titan replied, proceeding to fire at more goons with his plasma cannons.

Widowmaker and Specter continued to fight on the rooftops. Specter's blades had run out of charge so now they were fighting hand to hand. Specter kicked Widowmaker and sent her close to the edge of the building and punched her off. Widowmaker fell to the ground but managed to throw her grappling hook to slow the fall.

"Widowmaker? What are you doin' falling from the roof? Losing your grace?" Tracer mocked her and fired at her

Specter followed her and fell down, catching everyones attention.

 _"Uhh, so you need help?"_

"Watch out Talon has an armored vehicle!" Aura shouted at the others as a light tank approached the scene.

"I got it" Titan replied, launching a wrist missile at the vehicle.

"Soooo is that supposed to hurt it or what?" Tracer said as the missile had no effect.

 **BOOM!**

"Never mind!" Tracer corrected herself.

Talon was actually starting to be pushed back, most of their agents were out of the fight, leaving Widowmaker, Reaper and only a few goons left.

 _"Looks like your fight ends here, you're surrounded, now make your choice."_ Specter growled at Reaper and Widowmaker

"Not quite..." Reaper snarled in reply, as a dark mist formed around him, Widowmaker rushed into cover.

"DIE DIE DIE!" Reaper shouted as bullets went in all directions.

Reaper managed to get a few hits in but Reinhardt put up his shield.

"Now, run!" Reaper ordered while the Overwatch agents were distracted.

Widowmaker ran for the dropship, as so did Reaper and the remaining goons. The dropship flew away as fast as possible.

"Dammit! They got away!" Tracer shouted.

"Doesn't matter, they still lost a lot of troops today, a bit of collateral damage, but nothing that you could have stopped before you arrived." Titan reassured.

 _"I've seen worse, the cops will come and pick these up. I'll be on my way"_ Specter said.

"Oh no you aren't! We want you to come with us! We need you to answer some questions young man!" Angela scolded him.

 _"Why should I answer to you?"_ Specter replied.

"Hey I'm coming along if it means he won't run off. The fact that you have murdered over a 150 criminals in the past should be plenty of reason for you to answer, and thats only the ones that we know you were involved in." Titan told the vigilante.

 _"Fine, i'll come along if it means you'll shut up."_ Specter growled in return.

The group got in the dropship and headed back to the Watchpoint.

 **Okay shitty chapter probably. I really wanted to write a chapter with a big battle in it but I really struggled to put enough focus on each character or for everything that was happening in the battle so some parts may look bad or underdeveloped. Leave a review or something I don't know.**


	10. The Aftermath and the Wolf

It had been a few hours since the team returned from their mission, as well as bringing 2 "guests", into the Watchpoint. Thankfully no one got truly hurt. Reaper certainly was a nuisance but Tracer and Aura were agile enough for his shotguns to do any real damage, but Reinhardt took quite a few shots from Reaper, Widow and other goons but thankfully his armor soaked up most of it. It would need repairs though. And with the help of Specter and Titan, Talon was defeated with relative ease. After a few hours, Mercy had healed all of the agents back to top health. She was thankful she didn't have to use her revivification device, she hated seeing her allies die even if she knew they would come back. One thing was for sure, they would need to send maybe a couple more agents the next time they dealt with something that big.

Now Specter sat surrounded by Titan, Angela, Reinhardt, Tracer and Aura, expected to answer for his actions.

"Look Specter, we do not want to, nor do we plan to, arrest you, but we would appreciate if you told us why you do not have any issues killing your enemies in cold blood." Angela told him.

 _"You wanna know my backstory? Fine! It all started 6 years ago. It was my birthday and I was hanging out with my friends and family. But that same day, Talon attacked. My house was caught in the crossfire, and with it, they took my friends, my family, and my home; I even lost my eye. I had nowhere to go, so I hid in the streets. Ever since that day, a hatred grew inside me, a hatred for criminals of any form. Across the years, I developed technology of my own. I created a mechanical eye to replace my missing one, I stole a military grade rifle, as well as a grappling hook and taser. I manufactured throwing knives, explosives and infra red tech to use against criminals, so that others wouldn't have to suffer what I went through. Across the years I perfected my devices, and created more. I have no empathy for criminals or terrorists, I don't care if they are human, their actions aren't, and they don't deserve mercy from me, or from anyone, they deserve to die. So if you are wondering why I kill a lot, thats why!"_ Specter explained, practically shouting. It was pretty clear that it was a hard topic for him to explain. Specter felt sad on the inside, but he didn't dare show it, maintaining his emotionless face (as far as face expressions go behind a mask).

 _"I... don't know if all the suffering and death i've caused can be justified in any way... but... I lost everything that day to monsters, and the only way you can bring down monsters, is with monsters."_ Specter finished, calming down, his sadness noticeable even with his voice changer.

"Don't say that luv! You aren't a monster, sure you may have... killed a bunch of people but it was for a good cause right? I mean those you killed were drug dealers, murderers, weapons dealers, terrorists. In the end you were doing the right thing, albeit in a sorta... twisted way." Tracer tried to reassure him but failed miserably.

"Look, regardless of what you did, you are a hero, even if you don't see yourself as one. I still wish you didn't kill those men, but they weren't good people either. I may have been too quick to judge, its just that I hate violence." Angela said.

 _"Thanks I suppose, now, apart from interrogating me, I assume you want something from me?"_ Specter asked.

"Indeed we do! We'd like to recruit you. We heard that you live in the streets, don't mean to be rude. With our help, we could improve your living conditions and we could support each other in our cause! We need more agents, especially now." Winston stated as he walked into the room.

 _"Join you? I'm not sure. It would certainly be better than living in the streets, but ever since the attack, I haven't been very, enjoyable, to be around. I'm not sure you'd want a sad hateful guy around."_ Specter said.

"Hey, don't be silly. Ve vill always appreciate any help ve can get. And i'm sure that ve can help you be a better person!" Reinhardt said

 _"Fine... i'm in. And what about you? Didn't you want me to "answer for my crimes" Titan?"_ Specter growled.

"Eh, i'll suppose i'll let you off. You've already been involved in enough shit and I don't wanna make your life worse." Titan replied.

"What's really surprising me is that you aren't arresting us." Nate stated.

"Yeah, would your superior like it if he knew you're hanging out with an illegal faction?" Tracer asked.

"Well, I always found the Petras Act to be pretty bullshit. I mean, if the citizens put themselves in your shoes they would know how hard it is to protect the world. Besides, I don't have any active missions so my superiors don't really care, neither do they know, what i'm doing. In fact, Overwatch was what inspired me to join the IDSF in the first place. Who am I to make such a decision on my own?" Titan replied.

"Huh, well thanks luv!" Tracer said, happy that they weren't in any trouble for, you know, existing.

"By the way, are you a new member? I don't think I've ever seen you in any form Overwatch activity before." Titan asked Nate.

"Yeah. After I got my powers Overwatch decided to recruit me. Today was my first official mission." Nate replied.

"Well nice meeting ya... whats your name?" Titan asked.

"Oh right, mask. I'm Nate nice to meet ya!" Nate replied, taking off his mask. He could trust in an elite military agent, couldn't he?

"What interests me is how you got your powers. I mean, I think you are the only person in the world with actual innate superpowers, like something right out of a comic book." Titan asked.

"Well, its a long story. If you wanna know about it, come with me, I don't wanna bore the others to death, they pretty much know every detail." Nate replied, and with that they went off, making a conversation of their own.

 _"I have a feeling those two will get along well."_

 **Meanwhile in Volskaya Industries, Russia.**

(By the way, the following conversation is in Russian but translated for your convenience. Besides, I don't know Russian)

"We are not accepting the Cyber Wolf program! It's happened before. Look at SST laboratories, they built the bastions and look what happened. We do not want another situation like that. Not to mention we already have enough problems as it is with our own crisis!" The president of Russia told the leader of Volskaya Industries.

"But sir-"

"No buts! No matter how many firewalls you claim these "Wolves" have against hacking or how much potential they have to protect us, we are not trusting any sort of artificial intelligence to protect us! Our Svyatogor mechs are enough defense against the Omnics!" The president stated, rejecting the project.

With that, the project was halted, and the robots set to be dismantled. The Wolf units were meant to be a man sized peacekeeping unit to protect the people from the Omnics in Russia. They were agile, strong, and effective. They were armed with self reparation drones, all purpose SMGs, and could transform into cybernetic wolves for increased agility and strength. They also had some visual features of wolves, such as the face, which was shaped after wolves, or their feet. It was part of the design, but in the end it wasn't too meaningful.

A few days had passed, and the few prototypes that were created were left incomplete, unstable, and without purpose. They were all dismantled to be used for parts for the Svyatogor mechs. All remained but one. Designation CW-01.

"Alright, it looks like this is the last one. Lets begin dismantling this bad boy. Such a shame the project didn't make it past the government's approval." One of the workers said as they approached the offline unit.

A group of 5 workers had come to take care of the Omnic unit.

"Alright start with the head." The head of the group.

But as soon as they started taking apart the machine, some strange noises were heard.

"What was that?" One of the workers asked.

"Sounds like a machine turning on."

"Wait..." an awkward silence.

Red eyes began to glow, gears began to roll. The unit had turned itself on.

"Is that normal?" The machine acknowledged the worker's presence, and only growled, staying still.

A strange voice echoed in the room.

"CYBER-WOLF UNIT 01 ACTIVA-" The unit's voice began to speak, before it began to glitch and the machine began to slowly walk forward, drawing its weapon.

"Uhhh, stay calm, stay calm..." The workers said.

"THREAT DETECTE-, BEGINN-I-I-I-NG TERM... INA...TION." the unit's robotic voice said.

"What? No! Were not threa- AAAHHHHHH!" Screams were heard as the unit torn apart its creators, clawing at them or riddling them with bullets. After a few seconds, there was only blood, and 5 dead bodies.

 **Okay the first half of the chapter was just a bit of character development, as well as just a bit of where the story will be heading. Also I took some time to define what happened in the battle since I feel I didn't give enough attention to certain characters in the battle, such as Reaper. And new villain introduced. So essentially since the models were left incomplete CW-01's programming was flawed and unpredictable. He pretty much just tears through anything in his path (Well technically he's genderless but whatever.)**


	11. The Last Bastion

"So Rein! What are we gonna do in Eichenwalde exactly?" Nathan asked.

"There's rumors of a Bastion unit roaming the nearby area. Some people claim to have sighted it, and it vasn't friendly. Ve are going to attempt to find it, and if necessary, put it down." Reinhardt replied.

"Wait, weren't they all destroyed? What's a bastion unit doing in the forest?" Nate questioned.

"Some theorize that Sombra may have been involved in the units reactivation, other say it was just a glitch that caused the unit to reactivate, but no one knows for sure." Pharah said.

"Well, what are we waiting for! Let's move!" Lucio said, rushing ahead.

A team of 5 was assembled, including Reinhardt, Lucio, Zenyatta, Pharah and Aura. It was technically Aura's second mission. Reinhardt had more than enough reason to go, as it was his hometown and he knew the place better than anyone else. Zenyatta could attempt to communicate with the Bastion. Unlike most Omnics, Bastions didn't have voice boxes, but omnics were known to understand their beeps and boops. Pharah would provide aerial recon, and Lucio would provide extra support and healing should it be necessary. Aura sorta just tagged along just in case extra firepower or recon was required. He was still in training.

And with that, the team headed to Eichenwalde.

 ***In the dropship on the way to Eichenwalde***

"Rein, we should definitely get you some new tunes!" Lucio said.

"Ahh you kids and your techno music! You should enjoy the classics, like Hasselhoff! Have you heard Night Rocker!?" Reinhardt replied.

"I can't even take you seriously right now!" Lucio replied jokingly.

Zenyatta meditated and Aura decided to accompany him, earning a few tips from Zenyatta on how to achieve piece of mind.

"Okay, sit down and close your eyes. Free your mind, let bad thoughts fade, and relax. Focus only on the sound of my voice, and embrace the calm." Zenyatta said, and Nate complied. It was actually quite relaxing. After a while, both sat in silence, meditating, almost ignoring the world around them. The only sound that could be heard were Zenyatta's balls **-EHEM, orbs*** as they bounced up and down, creating a small ping noise as they fell back into position. It was all calm until they were rudely interrupted by Pharah.

"Hey we have arrived! Get off your butts!" Pharah commanded.

They got off, and they saw a beautiful, but unfortunately destroyed town. Balderich Von Adler's remains had been recovered by Overwatch long ago. In fact it was one of the first things Overwatch did when it was recalled.

"Ahh, everytime I come here, I feel a bit of sadness." Reinhardt said.

"Yeah, this place is beautiful, such a shame it's now a ghost town." Aura replied.

"Well enyvays, we are here for a reason, let's move. Rumors say the bastion comes around from time to time, if not we will move further. Aura and Pharah, I want you to get above and tell me if you see anything." Reinhardt commanded.

 ***Meanwhile in the forest***

"Beep boop boop!" Bastion chirped as he went on his way, with no particular destination. It was one of the walks Bastion took whenever he got bored, and Ganymede always came along with it, his chirps always making Bastion feel happy. It was interesting, Bastion was a machine that was built to be unfeeling and relentless, but now, with his programming "damaged", he was very different to what he was meant to be. He was aware of his past, but he wanted nothing to do with. At first he didn't know, but after the woodpecker incident, and when he scanned another unit's memory, he knew. In fact, part of the reason he remained isolated in the forest was because he didn't want to hurt anyone unwillingly. He hated his core protocols, they forced him to hurt others when he perceived a "threat", even when he knew it was safe. It was like someone else took control of his actions and he couldn't do anything to stop it. What was worse, is that Bastion couldn't get rid of them, or at least not on his own. But with Ganymede's help, he found it easy to take his mind off of it. He decided he would head for Eichenwalde. It wasn't too far away and he liked the place, except for all the deactivated omnics. Ganymede seemed to like it as well.

*Back at Eichenwalde*

"I see nothing from over here, do you Pharah?!" Nate asked, shouting so Pharah could hear him over her thrusters.

"Me neither, let's head back." Pharah replied.

"Rein, we found nothing!" The two stated.

"Neither did I!" Lucio said after coming back from the outskirts of the city.

"Oh vell, let's move out!" Reinhardt told the others, and they started moving to the outside of the city.

After moving for a little, they heard something.

"You hear that?" Reinhardt asked.

"What?" Lucio replied.

"Wait, stop walking." Pharah said, and the others complied.

Footsteps could be heard in the distance as they echoed throughout the forest. They were heavy and mechanical, most likely their target.

After a few minutes, the footsteps got louder and louder.

"Quick! everyone hide behind the gates!" Reinhardt ordered.

Stomp, stomp, stomp.

And they got closer.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

And closer!

STOMP. STOMP. STOMP.

The Bastion entered the town, and found 5 humans.

"Boop beep?" Bastion beeped, confused as to why they were hiding the gates, but didn't pay much attention to them and kept moving.

"Huh, I don't think it's evil like people claimed." Lucio said.

"But zhey must have said zhat for a reason no? Let's follow it." Reinhardt said, and they started to follow the omnic.

Bastion looked behind him and saw that the 5 he saw earlier were following him. But why? What were they doing here and what did they want? There was a big one with grey armor, a female with a blue armor suit and a rocket launcher, a male with a black and blue outfit, another male with some sort of mechanical legs and a strange pistol, and some sort of omnic monk, which caught his attention.

"Bop beep beep bup." They must want something with him, maybe he should stop and see what they wanted.

"Hello Bastion! We come in peace." The omnic monk began to speak.

"I want to attempt to communicate with you. We've heard rumors that suggest you've attacked others in the past." The monk finished his sentence.

"Beeeep boooop..." Bastion replied sadly.

"Your protocols? You do not want to hurt others?" Zenyatta asked, to which Bastion nodded.

The others began to approach, but still had their weapons at hand, not sure what to expect.

 **SCANNING INDIVIDUALS...**

 **SCAN COMPLETE.**

 _Oh no..._

 **STATUS: APPROACHING AND ARMED.**

 **SCANNING...**

 **VISUAL SCANS INDICATE HEAVY WEAPONRY.**

 **THREAT LEVEL: POSSIBLE AND HIGH**

 _No no no!_

 **COMBAT PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED.**

 **SCANNING...**

 **TARGET INFORMATION ACQUIRED.**

 **STATUS: CRUSADER. DESCRIPTION MATCHES ENEMY SEEN IN B-48'S MEMORY.**

 **CLASSED AS: ENEMY OF OMNICS**

 **DESTROY. POSES THREAT TO SELF.**

 **OUTNUMBERED, ESCAPE UNLIKELY, BEGIN ATTACK.**

 _No! Bastion did not want to hurt them!_

 _No! Not again!_

Bastion's optic turned red, taking everyone by surprise.

Bastion seemed to be at conflict with himself.

"Uhhhh, is that normal?" Nate asked.

"No it is not..." Zenyatta replied.

"Zenyatta, get behind!" Reinhardt shouted as he activated his barrier, preparing for the worst.

 **COMBAT PROTOCOLS FULLY ACTIVATED.**

 **TARGETS CONFIRMED AS ARMED AND DANGEROUS. CLASSED AS ENEMY BY DATABASE.**

 **ENGAGING THREATS.**


	12. An unusual recruit

**How come I don't get reviews? No but seriously if some of you could take a bit of your time to leave some feedback as to how to improve or what you think of the story i'd be so happy. And less and less people reading my fic so thanks a lot for the 22+ people that have kept up so far (I crie evry tiem)! But i'll keep making more since im enjoying this.**

"What is happening? Zenyatta!?" Pharah said.

"I predict that Bastion's protocols are still active, and has detected Reinhardt as a threat, as well as our weapons. Try to contain him, not destroy him." Zenyatta replied.

Bastion transformed into turret form and started firing at the barrier, breaking it slowly.

"At this rate zhe barrier von't hold much longer! Get to cover!" Reinhardt warned the others, and they soon split up and headed into cover, Reinhardt joining them as he deactivated his barrier and ran for it.

"What do we do now?" Aura asked.

"Ve could try to flank-" Reinhardt suggested but was cut off.

"DO DO DO DOOO!" Bastion beeped as he turned into a tank and headed for the heroes. Pharah and Aura flew out of the area and headed behind Bastion.

Bastion started to fire at Reinhardt as soon as he saw him but Reinhardt charged him and stopped his charge before hitting the wall, stunning Bastion.

Aura and Pharah fired at Bastion, damaging him, but Bastion ran for cover and started to heal himself.

"He's recovering! Get him!" Lucio shouted out to his team as he saw Bastion retrieved, and activated his speed boost.

Bastion booped him out of cover and fired a few sonic blasts into him, damaging him but not too much.

Bastion fired at him with his SMG but Lucio rushed to cover as soon as he could, avoiding most of the damage.

Aura fired a stream of energy at him, overloading Bastion and leaving him unable to move for a few seconds. Reinhardt took his chance to run up to him and swing his hammer at him. Bastion was thrown a few meters away and knocked to the ground, damaged.

"BeEeep, boOp..." Bastion said weakly as his optics readjusted and he tried to get up, but found himself unable to do so.

He aimed his SMG at Reinhardt's head, attempting to finish him off, and Reinhardt put his hammer upwards, about to smack Bastion and finish him.

But a small bird came and landed on Bastion, chirping in worry, it seemed.

As soon as Bastion saw Ganymede in danger, he lowered his weapon, prioritizing Ganymede and, for a second, ignoring his protocols.

Reinhardt lowered his hammer as he saw the bird. He noticed Bastion was no longer attacking. But he still kept his eye on Bastion.

"Zwee?" Bastion beeped, aimed at the bird, which simply chirped in return. Bastion eventually managed to get up and held Ganymede in his hand.

"It seems Bastion has found peace of mind in the form of a bird. I can sense that both care deeply about each other." Zenyatta said.

"So vhat you are saying is zhat zhe bird keeps Bastion from turning violent?" Reinhardt asked.

"Yes, in a way. Seeing as how Bastion put the safety of his companion over his protocols, that would be an accurate way to describe it." Zenyatta replied.

"Follow us Bastion, we can help you." Zenyatta stated.

"Bop beep bap?" Bastion asked.

"Yes, we can help you get rid of your protocols. Would you like to come with us?" Zenyatta told Bastion.

 ***In the dropship, on the way to Watchpoint: Gibraltar***

"Woo bep beep..." Bastion said with a sad tone, Ganymede still with him.

"What did he say?" Nate asked.

"He says that he wants to apologize for attacking us." Zenyatta replied.

"Ohh, come on, its fine!" Nate reassured him.

"So what now?" Pharah asked.

"We should attempt to get help from Mei or Winston to remove his violent protocols." Zenyatta said.

"Vell we should try to do it as soon as ve get zhere, if Torbjorn finds out ve brought a Bastion unit to base he'll riot!" Reinhardt said, making Bastion a bit nervous.

*At Watchpoint: Gibraltar, in Winston's lab*

"Doo doo doo..." Winston sung as he grabbed a jar of peanut butter and opened it.

"Winston! Guess what we brought from Eichenwalde!" Nate said as he arrived at his lab.

"What did you- why... do you have a Bastion unit?" Winston replied, feeling uneasy as he saw the dirty Bastion in front of him.

"Well we recovered him from our mission on Eichenwalde. Turns out he's friendly, but his protocols are still active. We'd like you and Mei to help us with that." Nate said.

"Well, I guess we could help, i'll call her." Winston said as he called Mei.

 _"Yes Winston, what is the problem?"_

"Well, turns out that Rein brought a Bastion unit. We have to reprogram him so he doesn't turn violent. Come quickly and don't tell anyone."

 _"Alright that's now what I was expecting to hear. Anyways, i'm on my way."_

A few minutes passed and Mei arrived.

"Woah, it's really dirty, alright, let's get this over with!" Mei said.

They plugged Bastion in and saw his coding.

"I don't understand this, if we compare this to normal Bastion programming, it's all messed up, nothing is working quite right." Mei said.

"Well, Bastion wouldn't be so friendly if his programming was working as usual, would he?" Winston replied.

"I guess so, now, if his core protocols are intact, they should be... Aha! right here. Oh... shoot everything system considers a threat on sight? That certainly sounds like a Bastion from the Omnic crisis. Let's sort that out." Mei said.

A few hours passed and his combat protocols had been deleted, and replaced with old peacekeeping protocols.

"Alright Bastion, we replaced your protocols. You will still have the same combat efficiency but you will have control over your actions. We're trusting you won't decide to attack us." Winston told the unit.

"Zweee beep beep boop!" Bastion said with joy.

"Bastion says 'Don't worry, i'd never! Thanks so much for this!'" Zenyatta said before they asked.

"Also, we decided to update your systems. We improved your internal database." Mei said.

"We also should clean you up!" Winston said.

Another few hours passed and Bastion stood clean. Due to the erosion he was no longer red but white and green.

"Bleep! Bep bap bip?" Bastion said.

"Bastion says that he is very thankful for the treatment, but he asks where he and his bird will stay."

"You could stay in one of our spare rooms, and we can build a nest for your bird to stay in" Winston said.

"You can roam around and get to know the place if you want!" Mei said, deciding it was time to let Bastion do what he wanted since he was no longer violent.

"Beeep!" Bastion waved them goodbye.

Bastion roamed around the Watchpoint, when he heard someone scream.

"BASTION UNIT!" Torbjorn shouted in panic and warned the others.

Winston and many others arrived at the scene.

"What is happenin' here luv?!" Tracer asked, shocked as she saw the giant Bastion unit.

"Why's there a Bastion unit at base!" Genji asked at no one in particular.

"Everyone calm down! Reinhardt's team found it and brought it in. We had his protocols checked and re-purposed, he isn't dangerous!"

" 'He isn't dangerous'. No, no no! N. O. Do you even know what they brought!? A Bastion unit! One of the most dangerous machines in human history! They are murderous, easily swayed, and DANGEROUS. They were built to kill threats and thats all they are! Killers, responsible for more than a million deaths in the Omnic crisis! And you are here telling me that a Bastion unit was just casually brought to base and most importantly of all, that it isn't dangerous!? That, THING has enough firepower to kill us! So don't try to bullshit me!" Torbjorn shouted in response as Winston spoke.

"Boop..." Bastion said sadly and walked off in sorrow.

"Torbjorn why'd you say that!" Lucio said.

"Look kid, you may not fully understand my hate towards Omnic, but I assure you it isn't without reason. I've seen them in combat, and they were ruthless, violent and merciless. They would kill you before you could even know what happened. So when one suddenly appears i've bound to have my suspicions!" Torbjorn replied.

"You may be right, but I trust Winston with my life! And Omnics may be machines in a way, but they think and feel! And you hurt the poor thing!" Tracer said.

"Pah, whatever!" Torbjorn said and walked off to work on his projects.

 ***Meanwhile in another section of the Watchpoint***

 _They don't like me or trust me do they? I'm just a killing machine to them._ Bastion thought to himself. He felt sad, but when Ganymede appeared and chirped reassuringly at him, he felt happy.

 _You're always there for me buddy, you're all I have._


	13. Old Soldiers never die

The alarms rang at Watchpoint Gibraltar. Bastion walked through the hallways, covered in blood. He had begun a rampage across the Watchpoint, and had already gotten Dva, McCree and Hanzo Torbjorn and Zarya tried to stop him, but he transformed into turret form and ended their lives. Specter tried to blind him and get up close but Bastion punched him, breaking his skull. Reinhardt appeared, protecting Lucio and Mercy.

"DO DO DO DOOO!" Was heard throughout the hangar as Bastion transformed into a tank, breaking Reinhardt's barrier and finishing the three off before turning back into his regular form. Pharah and Aura tried to shoot him but he once again transformed into turret form and shot them out of the sky one by one, their bodies crashing to the floor, lifeless.

Bastion continued throughout the base. He came across Genji and Tracer. Tracer threw a bomb at him but he got into cover and shot her with his SMG in the face, killing her.

He changed into turret form and began firing at Genji, which began deflecting his bullets back it him. He quickly noticed this and stopped firing until Genji stopped, filling his body with bullets. The cyborg fell shattered and broken.

He came upon Mei and Winston.

"I'm blocking him off! Get away from here, quick!" Mei shouted at Winston, which tried to use his jump pack to get away. Bastion shot through the ice wall 'till it broke and ended Mei where she stood.

Winston still tried to run away, but he was an easy target and Bastion shot him, all his bullets finding their mark, the gorilla dropping dead to the floor.

Now it was only him and... Zenyatta.

"Bastion, please! This isn't you, you've proven to be good and pure of heart, just stop all this!"

Bastion only stared at him, until he shot him mercilessly, the omnic dropping to the floor, as his screams filled the ai-

"BEEEEEEEEEEEP!" Bastion screamed as he woke up from his stasis.

 _It was just a dream. Just, a dream. Nothing more. I would never do that!_

But he didn't quite convince himself. He remembered what Torbjorn said the day before, about being a killing machine and nothing more.

 _He's right, isn't he. What I saw in my dream, it could happen... No, no stop that, I got my protocols replaced, that won't happen ever again!_ Bastion thought to himself, trying to calm down after what he saw in his dream. It scared him though, recently, he hadn't been feeling... normal. Sometimes the words "Protocol Sombra" appeared and he muttered lines in morse code, the stopped completely. He didn't know what it was or why it was happening yet, but it kept him on edge. What if those protocols could make him do what he saw in his dream?

Ganymede awoke after she heard Bastion scream at got out of her nest and came up to the unit and chirped at him, calming him down as he grabbed her and petted her softly in the head, saying thanks in a way, though the bird didn't comprehend it as anything more than affection.

That's what Bastion loved so much about the bird and why he became so attached to it. It didn't understand nor did it care about the troubles of the world. She didn't understand the suffering of war or crisis, she just lived her life happily and without worries, accompanying Bastion wherever he went. Bastion hoped one day he could be the same.

 ***Meanwhile in Egypt***

 _(This part is a continuation of the old soldiers comic)_

"We've had this discussion before Ana. I say we return to Overwatch. The reason I came here was to find you to return to Overwatch!" Soldier 76 said.

"I understand Jack. But we're supposed to be dead. What will they think when they find out we've just been hiding all these years!? They wouldn't accept us!" Ana replied.

"I too was against the idea of returning to Overwatch, but if there's one thing I know, is that old habits die hard, and for me, that habit is to protect the innocent. Overwatch is trying to do just that. We can help them. Besides, it's better late than never. If we never return, what good are we doing to the world, bringing down a gang or some other criminal group. Another one just takes it's place. With Overwatch we have the support to do a real difference. Also, wouldn't you love to see Reinhardt or Torbjorn again? Or see Tracer or Mercy or whatever shenanigans they are up to when they aren't on missions? They're our friends, they wouldn't hate us. It's our home, we can't stay in the shadows forever." Morrison said, giving a small speech of sorts.

"Alright... Fine... I suppose I'd like that. Fine! We return, but if anything goes wrong, know it was your idea." Ana said.

"Just calm down, don't be so paranoid." Jack replied.

"Well but how will we get there? Ever since I disappeared I've been here in Egypt." Ana asked

"I stole a dropship from Helix..." Jack confessed to Ana.

"You have a dropship? AND you stole it? How am I only now learning about this?!" Ana demanded an answer.

"Jeez grandma. Besides, how do you think I traveled from the US to Mexico, or even got here to begin with?" Jack replied. He was a soldier but around Ana he could be the most childish of old men there could be.

"Okay, when do we leave, Soldier 76?" Ana snarked back at him.

"I suppose today. Talon has been unto us recently and it'd be best if we left as soon as possible."

"Oh, but we've already found you!" A Talon commander said with a cold voice.

"Talon..." Soldier 76 growled.

"And by the way, Reaper sends his regards..." The commander spoke again.

"Gabriel..." Soldier 76 growled again under his breath.

"Enough with introductions... OPEN FIRE!" The commander ordered and soon the Talon troops began to shoot in their direction.

"Get to cover!" Soldier 76 commanded and both vigilantes got to cover as soon as possible. Soldier got hit a few times but he placed down his biotic field, healing most of the damage. He nodded at Ana, giving her a signal.

"I GOT YOU IN MY SIGHTS!" Soldier 76 spoke as he activated his tactical visor.

"You're powered up! Get in there!" Ana shouted at Jack, activating her nano-boost as soon as Soldier activated his visor.

Soldier 76 fired at the enemies, locking on to their heads and dropping most of them. He kept on firing but a bit less than half of the goons headed into cover ASAP. Thanks to the nano boost he was even more focused and could reload even quicker. Unfortunately for both of them, the nano boost and visor ran out, forcing them back into cover.

Ana came out of her corner every so often, sniping one enemy at a time with deadly precision. Soldier 76 shot a helix rocket at a group of enemies behind cover, dropping them with ease.

"Only gets better with age." Soldier joked at himself.

The fun and games ended when an armored truck and two Talon goons with rocket launchers came into the scene. The armored truck came with an LMG and began firing at Soldier, keeping him pinned. A rocket was fired at him, which sent him flying out of cover.

"Jack!" Ana shouted. She shot him multiple times, with healing darts, getting him back into the fight. She threw a biotic grenade at the rocket launcher wielders, weakening them, Soldier following up by shooting them both with his pulse rifle, knocking them out.

"My helix rockets aren't doing much against that truck!" Soldier 76 told Ana as he fired his helix rockets into the truck, with very little effect.

"I got it!" Ana replied as she shot out the gunner and driver between the cracks of the truck.

They kept on doing their routine, eventually using their "ultimate" abilities when they recharged. Eventually Talon was eventually pushed back enough for them to retreat.

"They're getting away!" The commander shouted as he saw Soldier 76 and Ana escape.

Soldier 76 shot at some pillars, blocking off the Talon operatives and escaping successfully.

"Jack, we did it!" Ana cheered as they got away.

"So what now?" Jack asked.

"Well, we get on the dropship and head for Watchpoint: Gibraltar."


	14. And they don't fade away

"Winston, I am detecting a small unidentified dropship approaching our base." Athena spoke.

"What model is it? How many people are inside it?" Winston replied with urge in his voice.

"My scans suggest that it is a H-1226, employed by Helix Security. And there are only 2 people inside it." Athena replied.

"Only 2? Let them come, Talon or the IDSF wouldn't send 2 people to us. Call Pharah please." Winston ordered.

Athena quickly contacted Fareeha. She still worked with Helix, she didn't abandon Helix, just how Zarya didn't abandon the RDF, or Dva didn't abandon the Mobile Exo-Force when they joined; thanfully those organizations weren't after Overwatch and were happy to work together and co-exist. Maybe she knew better than him.

"Okay I came here as soon as I could, what is the problem?" Pharah asked.

"Athena's scans suggest that a Helix dropship is approaching us. There are only 2 people in it. Have you contacted any sort of superiors for them to come here?" Winston asked.

"No, I haven't contacted Helix since a few days. We talked a few weeks back about the Prometheus project, but I won't be called to assist until a week from now." Pharah replied.

"Strange. Best we can do now is let them come and see what they want." Winston said.

After a few minutes, the dropship landed and out of it came, as Athena suggested, 2 people. What surprised Winston was who they were. It was the infamous Soldier 76 and Shrike, a vigilante from egypt. What were they doing together?

"Hi there? I don't think we've met before. May I ask, what are you doing here?" Winston asked.

"Hello Winston, we have come because we have important information that may concern you. You may want to call the others for this." Soldier 76 replied.

"Oh alright, come with me." Winston said, and with that, they headed off.

Some time passed and everyone was gathered at the hangar. Soldier recognized a lot of people, but he also saw a few new faces, and... is that a Bastion unit? He'd ask later. He heard some of the agents mumble, confused as to what they were doing.

"Okay, everyone listen up!" 'Shrike' began.

"We're here because we have something important to tell you all..." She paused and looked at Jack, nodded, and looked back at the agents.

They unmasked themselves.

"We aren't dead." Ana finished her sentence.

She swore she saw a few jaws drop, others were just shocked, and the Bastion sat indifferent as it had no idea who they were.

"Jack? Ana? How can zhis be! We all zhought you vere dead!" Reinhardt said, clearly shocked by what had just happened.

"I'm so sorry Reinhardt, but after everything that happened, I needed time." Ana replied, and Reinhardt seemed to nod in understanding, but was clearly disappointed that Ana and Jack hid for so long.

"We are sorry. After we gave it some thought, we thought it would be best for us to return, we heard you needed all the help you could get. We will no longer hide in the shadows, here we are." Jack spoke.

Everyone sat dumbfounded, some a little angry, some happy. After all, two of the former agents, amongst the most respected of all, sat before them when they were thought to be dead for years.

"M-mom? After all this time you weren't... dead?" Pharah said, almost on the verge of crying.

"Oh my dear, I am so, so sorry that I made you suffer like this!" Ana said as she hugged her daughter.

"I'm so happy! You're back and all I ever wanted was to have you back! To work with you!" Pharah said as she wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Jack Morrison, i'm glad you're back, old friend. It's better late than never I suppose!" Torbjorn said.

"I can't believe both of you loves are here! It's almost as though you were never gone!" Tracer cheered.

"Now now, it's great to be back, but I have noticed some new recruits." Soldier said, referring to Bastion, Dva, Lucio, Pharah, Zarya, Zenyatta, Hanzo, Aura and Specter.

"Yes, Jack, since we recalled we've had some new members, i'm happy to say. I'm sure you will have heard of most of them." Winston said.

"That's sir to you!" Jack said jokingly. Jack sure had heard of Lucio, Pharah, Dva, Zarya, Zenyatta and Hanzo, but he didn't know anything about who the last three were. He would get to know them later.

"Only one question... Why is there a Bastion unit here? I thought they were all deactivated." Ana asked.

Everyone turned their attention to Bastion, who only beeped and booped.

"Oh, you mean that piece of scrap? Reinhardt found him in Eichenwalde and brought him in for I don't know what reason. They said that they fixed its programming but I don't trust it, and don't think I ever will." Torbjorn said, and Zarya nodded in agreement.

"As long as it doesn't act against us, it can stay, but keep an eye on it, those Bastion units weren't exactly friendly during the Omnic Crisis." Ana replied.

Jack still wasn't sure how to feel about working with a Bastion unit. They used to destroy the Bastion units during the war, not make friends with them. But if it truly was fighting the good fight, then who was he to judge, they did need all the help they could get these days, especially with the growing threat of a second Omnic Crisis around the corner.

 _Guess i'll have to live with it._

And so, Jack, Ana and the rest of Overwatch were reunited. Ana and Jack were both eager to get to know the knew recruits and work with Overwatch once again, but they would start with that tomorrow, it had been a long day and it was late, so it was best to get some sleep.

 **Alright so Jack and Ana are officially 100% introduced into the story. Sorry if the chapter was a bit short but I just wanted to quickly continue from where I left off. And i'll explain what the "Prometheus project" is in a few chapters from now. It might or might not be a new character, who knows...**


	15. The man, the myth, the mercenary

"Alright you 3, show me what you got!" Jack spoke to Aura, Specter, and Bastion. He ha gathered them because he didn't know them and wanted to get to know them and their abilities. They weren't former Overwatch agents, and neither were they famous or talked about frequently, like Lucio or Hanzo were, so he had no idea what they could do.

"When you are ready, go ahead." Ana said, and Aura decided to go first.

"Alright, let's do this." Nathan spoke as his body was engulfed in energy and flew up in the air. He flew to a group of robots and blasted them apart. He saw a training robot moving in the upper parts of the training area and quickly shot it, bringing it down. He then punched a robot, punching right through the chest, and threw it at another group of robots, finishing them off. With that, he finished his demonstration.

"That was quite impressive, you got talent, kid... and, the ability to fly, it seems..." Jack said, feeling speechless. It was extremely rare for an individual to have actual powers. Most members of Overwatch had gear or accessories that gave them their abilities. For example, Tracer had her chronal accelerator to blink, Mercy had her staff to heal, and Winston, well, he was a giant ass gorilla with a jet pack.

"So, whats your name?" Ana asked.

"Im called Nathan. By the way, its such an honor to meet you." Nate replied.

"Aw, the pleasure is ours. And, how did you even get such abilities?" Ana asked with a sweet voice.

"Well, I had recently moved to England because of a really good job offer. I had decided to tour around the city for a bit, but I came across this weird abandoned house. For some reason, I decided to go in and found some Talon agents working on some broken machine. Eventually, they found me and tried to shoot me but they damaged the machine instead, and some syringes shot out of it and injected me with some sort of serum. And well, now im here. That's the short version, but thats all you really got to know." Nate replied.

Now it was Specter's turn to demonstrate.

 _"I assume I go now?"_

"Sure, go ahead." Jack confirmed.

Specter stepped ahead and pulled out some throwing knives. Immediately he threw them at some robots and they hit with pin-point accuracy, dropping the robots. He then cloaked and activated his hard light blade. He approached a group of robots and uncloaked. He sliced at the robots, and one by one, they fell, cut in half. Specter took out his assault rifle and shot at another small group of robots. To finish off, he grappled a robot and launched himself at it, kicking it and knocking it to the ground.

"That was a great performance, I gotta give you that." Jack said.

"Whats your name?" Ana asked.

 _"I haven't told that to anyone..."_

"Come on, we did the same, you can trust us." Ana reassured.

"Alright, fine... My name's Alex." He took off his mask to reveal a face with a large gash running across it. The gash ran through his left eye and he had a mechanical eye replacing it. His hair was very short and black and he had a scruffy beard. He looked war-torn. He had small scars across his cheeks.

"What, happened to you? How did this happen?" Ana asked with worry.

"See, this is why I don't reveal my name or face. I, um, it's a subject I don't like to talk about." Alex replied.

Ana nodded in understanding. It was clear Alex had a rough past and she wouldn't touch up on it further.

*Meanwhile, in Talon headquarters*

"Why have you brought me here, Reaper." Rogue asked.

"Are you sure you won't reconsider our offer? There's good money in it for you." Reaper replied.

"For the last time mate, no. I'm not working for you, i'm not helping you bring down Overwatch. I. don't. work. for. freaks." Rogue stated.

"Ahhh Proto, always the good mercenary, what more could I expect from an _omnic_!" Reaper growled.

"Oi! Now you're talking bad about my race eh mate?! Now thats even more of a reason not to work for you!" Rogue snarked back.

"You know what, if you aren't with us, you're against us. Deal with the scrap piece." Reaper growled as he exited the room, ordering the goons to take care of him.

"Coward..." Rogue muttered under his breath.

He was surrounded 7 Talon agents, all pointing his guns at him. He slowly drew his crossbow and loaded a special bolt and fired it at the ground. It was a sonic bolt, and the intense noise caused the goons to drop their guns and drop to the floor in pain. He loaded a bolt magazine and fired at the goons, dropping 3 of them. Unfortunately the sonic bolt ran out of charge and the goons got back on their feet. Rogue tackled one of them and knocked him out. One of the goons tried getting close to him but he punched the agent in the face and fired at his gut with his machine pistol sidearm. He got into cover and loaded another special bolt and fired it at the group of goons.

"Ha, you missed!" One of the goons taunted as Rogue "missed" his shot.

"Wasn't aiming for ya mate, I never miss!" And with that, the bolt homed onto the goons and fired small harpoon-like projectiles, tethering all of them.

"Ah! What the-" One of the goons shouted as he was tethered but was cut short when the tethers started shocking them, dropping them to the ground.

"Say goodnight..." Rogue said as he fired a cluster bomb bolt at the group, killing them.

"Now, all I gotta do is get out of this place, maybe get myself a jet... This will be fun!"

 **Alright mates new OC introduced. His full name is Proto Boltbot and he's an Australian omnic. He was a former hunter and marksman but when Australia fell into chaos he decided to pick up the crossbow and become a mercenary. He however is a good person at heart (or core hehehehehe) and won't work for evil people, and won't always work for the highest bidder. He carries an automatic crossbow, multiple bolt types to suit almost every situation and a machine pistol for close range engagements. He wears a suit with a small layer of armor and a hood with a small cape (similar to something like what McCree has). Damn I wish I could draw so I could just post drawings of my OCs, would make my life a whole lot easier :P**


	16. The infiltration

**I apologize for the error I made a few chapters back when I introduced Cyber-Wolf. I said that the bastions were built by Volskaya industries because of some bastion blueprints that appeared on the map but now I know they were made by SST laboratories. I have gone back and fixed that.**

The Talon dropship approached Volskaya industries. In it was Reaper, Widowmaker and Sombra.

"So amigos, we better not fail this no?" Sombra spoke, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, we'd better, we haven't been all too successful lately, in case you've been living under a rock, amiga." Reaper snarled back.

"Still pissed about project A-66?" Sombra poked.

"Don't remind me." Reaper growled. He indeed was pissed, and with good reason. They hadn't been on their best recently. Project A-66's loss, the failure of capturing Jack and Ana in Egypt, Overwatch getting new members. Talon could really use a victory, and this was their chance to prove themselves to their superiors.

The ship arrived and landed a bit outside Volskaya so that they wouldn't attract attention. Sombra cloaked and headed for the control room, and Widowmaker and Reaper grouped up and took out any outside guards, and waited outside the door.

"Sombra, are you ready?" Reaper asked through the comms.

"Just give me a second... Hah, there we go! I've got access."

"Good, get it all sorted out and tell us when to begin."

"Hah! I thought this was supposed to be the most advanced security system on the planet." Sombra remarked.

"We don't have all day! Hurry up." Widowmaker urged.

"Enough, do you have satellite?" Reaper asked.

She sighed, "Of course!" Sombra replied.

"Are you certain the target is at sight?" Widowmaker asked.

"Oh she's here alright." Sombra reassured and sent them her feed.

"Okay you're in." Sombra signaled. The two nodded as the doors opened. Widowmaker ran up to one of the guards, distracting him, and Reaper choked him. They proceeded up the stairs. Widowmaker grappled unto one of the cranes and Reaper jumped down and wraithed unto the next door.

Sombra cloaked once again, heading into another console. The guards passed by and she began hacking the console, taking control.

"The door." Reaper commanded. Sombra opened it slightly but shut it again.

"Sombra..." Reaper growled, only gaining a chuckle from the girl. She reopened the door just enough for Reaper to wraith through.

"Turrets are down." Sombra remarked as the turrets wen't offline, and he proceeded through the facility.

"I am in position." Widowmaker said, activating her infra sight.

"Sombra, time to target." Widowmaker commanded.

"Incoming, right now." Sombra replied.

General Volskaya came down for the inspection, accompanied by a group of guards.

One of the workers noticed her and began speaking with her. "General Volskaya. The new guidance systems, they will be the difference in destroying the hated omnics-"

"Tell me we're still on schedule, the omnium will not wait until we are ready before they attack again." Volskaya cut him off.

"Our first new mechs in a decade, this will ensure the future of Russia." Volskaya said, proud of her company's work to create a new set of mechs. She admired the new model.

"Just a little bit further." Widowmaker whispered to herself as the target got closer and closer to her firing range.

But then the alarms were set off.

"Miss Volskaya lets go!" One of the soldiers shouted and began escorting her immediately.

"Cor?" (I seriously don't know what she says here or how its pronounced so let's just go with this.) Widowmaker tried to shoot the target but she missed.

"Agh!" She exclaimed in frustration. "Widowmaker, hold the perimeter, we'll take over!" Reaper said as he wraithed into the building and began firing at the guards. He shot one that was in the upper section, then tried firing at another, but he saw he knocked himself out, so he proceeded to shoot the one behind him. He tried to fire at the elevator, but one of the mechs blocked his shots and hit him hard, launching him into a metal structure.

"Sombra, im cut off! It's on you now!" Reaper said through the comms.

"I'm all over it!" Sombra reassured. She hacked one of the moving pieces of the building and got up quickly. She jumped for it and made it to the catwalks, surprising Volskaya. She began moving and threw her translocator at two guards, fooling them and letting her shoot them easily. They dropped instantly and she began advancing.

"All mechs, fire on catwalks, level 3!" One of the guards commanded, and the mech burnt the catwalk down, and Sombra began to fall.

"Sombra, status!" Reaper exclaimed as he fired at the mech, depleting its shield and chipping through its armor. He climbed up to it and tried shooting the pilot, but the pilot threw him off. The mech tried shooting at him but he dodged and he returned the favor, damaging the mech even more. He managed to shoot the pilot and kill him.

"Ugh, im working on it!" Sombra replied as she hacked a svyatogor mech arm, which lifted her up and back unto the catwalk. She looked right into the Russian's eyes before she cloaked.

"Where did she go! Find her!" The guards screamed.

Volskaya and two guards managed to get into the room, and the room went into lockdown.

 _Finally, we're safe_ Volskaya thought to herself, but that couldn't be further off from the truth. Soon Sombra reappeared between the two guards and killed them.

"Katya Volskaya." Sombra said blankly as she aimed her machine pistol right between Volskaya's eyes. A few seconds of silenced passed, and Sombra relaxed and put her weapon away.

"Hah, you have no idea what it took me to make this meeting happen." Sombra said, which only confused Katya more.

"Relajate im not going to kill you... I mean, i'm the one that set off the alarm." she reassured.

"Sombra, do you have the targe-" Reaper asked but was cut off when she took off her communicator, rolling her eyes.

"Okay listen, i'm here to make a friend, and show you something I found." Sombra said, and she made an image appear out of thin air. That image was Volskaya trading with what seemed to be an Omnic leader of some sort.

"Tell me, what would happen, if the people of Russia, learned that their... defender against the Omnics, was actually getting her tech from the enemy." Sombra said as she made even more pieces of evidence appear.

She grabbed a photo of Volskaya's daughter and handed it to her.

"What would that do to the future of Russia?" Sombra asked menacingly.

"What do you want?" Was the only thing Volskaya could ask in return.

"The most powerful woman in Russia? I've always wanted a friend like that!" Sombra replied, revealing the reasons to her actions.

And it made sense, Sombra's plan made sense, it would be quite beneficial indeed to have Katya Volskaya of all people as an ally.

The guards knocked heavily on the door, trying to get in and see if their general was still safe.

"Sooo im thinking, I don't let these images appear on every holo-vid in the world, and you, help out your new friend every now and then. What do you say?" Sombra continued.

The guards managed to get the door open by a little bit.

"Clock's ticking, amiga." Sombra threatened.

"As if I had a choice. What now, friend." Volskaya said.

"I'll be in touch... Boop!" Sombra booped Volskaya's nose and she dissapeared right as the guards got inside.

She reappered where she left her translocator. "Mission failed, target escaped." Sombra lied, re-equipping her communicator.

Reaper growled in anger and threw his shotguns, a wrecked mech and a dead pilot behind him. "Get back to the ship!"

 **Later, in the Talon dropship.**

"I can't believe we failed the mission, you could have caught her Sombra! You're slacking..." Reaper scolded.

"I apologize, I couldn't get there in time, they got the upper hand on that, nothing I could do." Sombra replied.

"Fine. But from tomorrow morning, I want to see you training, i'm not letting this happen again." Reaper snarled.

A few moments passed in silence, until Widowmaker noticed something strange.

"What is that?" She gestured to a strange robotic figure in the distance.

Reaper stopped the dropship and they landed.

"What do you think that was?" Sombra asked.

"Don't know, but it looked like a weapon, I want to see what it is." Widowmaker replied. They made it to the area where they saw the figure. When they got there, they saw a large, wolf-like omnic. It noticed them.

"RAAAGHHHHH!" Cyber-wolf roared as he sprinted towards them and pounced them.

"Merde!" Widowmaker shouted in panic.

"A cyber-wolf? Weren't these things dismantled?!" Sombra asked.

"Doesn't matter, shoot it!" Reaper ordered, but Sombra intervened.

"Don't! I got an idea." She exclaimed.

"Well, make it quick because this thing's about to shred me!" Widowmaker urged.

Quickly, Sombra hacked the Omnic, rendering it motionless.

"SY- SY- SYSTE... MS FAI-LING. SH- SH- SHUTTING DO- DOWN." The lumbering machine fell. It was fierce but also unfinished. Many parts of it were crude and damaged.

"I think we've found ourselves a new weapon to work on." Sombra cheered. Reaper nodded in agreement. They carried the omnic to the dropship, and they headed off.

They may have lost their target and failed the mission, but atleast they had something promising to bring back.

 **Yeah I know, how cheap to rewrite the entire new short as a chapter of my story, but it was also the perfect chance to set some things in place, as well as introduce Sombra into the story. It was also the perfect chance to bring Cyber-wolf back into the story since I sorta just introduced him and then forgot about him, but I did want him to work with Talon at some point since he is evil and this was just the perfect opportunity. Also sorry for not updating as of late but i've just been really busy with school lately. Don't worry i'm not abandoning the story.**


	17. The Prometheus Project

"It's a pleasure to have you with us, Pharah! This is a revolutionary day for Helix International and the world!" The chief scientist of the Helix Security development division spoke with excitement.

"Let's see what you got, shall we?" Pharah urged, eager to see how Helix's new project was unfolding.

"Of course! We've only got a few models for now, we're still testing, but this day will set a record in history!" The scientist spoke once again.

It had been a few weeks since Pharah had been given to notice to attend, and now, the Prometheus project was far enough in development and was ready to be tested. Pharah and the scientist walked to the testing room. In it was a single, offline humanoid unit. It had a blue and white color scheme, and was slightly larger than bastion, but sleeker too. It had an agile figure and two thin, red optics in the front of its head. It had a compact minigun mounted on its shoulder, as well as twin rocket pods on each side of it's body, as well as what seemed like a laser in his wrist, and came equipped with two large thrusters in the back.

"This is one of the first Prometheus units we ever built, and we've decided that it would be the one we would show to you. Delta 3!" The scientist commanded. One que, the automaton reactivated, its optics glowing, and it stood up.

"Greetings, I am Helix Automaton Delta-03 Prometheus, at your service. You may call me D3 for abbreviation, if you wish." The automaton spoke.

"Wow, impressive, what does it do?" Pharah asked.

"I believe you are Fareeha Amari, it is an honor to meet you." The automaton said humbly.

"Okay D3, give Pharah here a recap of your purpose."

"Affirmative. I am a Prometheus unit, designed and fabricated by the Helix International Security development division. We are what the Bastions where meant to be; a strong, reliable force of peacekeeping units. While we are self-aware and are capable of thinking like other omnics, we are equipped with updated system limitations, as well as multiple layers of state of the art firewalls and anti-hacking systems, to prevent us from swaying from our original purpose and turning against our masters. We are the next generation in automated security." D3 finished its description.

"Nicely done D3. Now, i'm going to begin a training simulation to put your combat skills to the test. You ready?" The scientist warned.

"Acknowledged." The omnic responded and nodded.

"You may want to take a few steps back." The scientist told Pharah, to which she complied.

The training robots appeared across the room, weapons fixed on the unit.

"Threats detected, disabling security protocols." D3 said, and began to spin up his minigun. "Opening fire."

Delta 3's minigun began throwing a barrage of bullets at the training robots, ripping them to shreds in seconds. Another group of robots began firing at the unit in return, damaging its shields.

"Damage sustained, using rockets." The unit spoke as a small salvo of unguided rockets were launched at the robots, blowing them up. D3 used its thrusters to reach high into the air and dashed at more robots. It punched one of them, ripping out its data core, and fired a laser at another robot, piercing through a few of them and breaking them apart. A large group of training bots appeared and they all started to focus down the unit.

"Thrusters supercharged." The unit spoke as it redirected energy to its thrusters, lifting itself high in the air and, literally, raining death from above. It kept firing rocket after rocket with pin-point accuracy, while firing the minigun unto the training bots. After a few seconds, all of the training bots were trashed and the unit descended, nearly unharmed.

"Congratulations, you guys did an outstanding job. I'm truly impressed with the progress. When will the units be ready?" Pharah asked with excitement, something that was hard to see in the hardened soldier.

"If all goes right, in a few days we'll begin production. The project has already passed Egypt's and the UN's approval." The scientist replied with an equal amount of excitement.

 **Meanwhile, in Talon headquarters.**

"Get that dropship ready, we're moving in on Helix." Reaper commanded to the group of soldiers that would be accompanying him on his mission.

"Sorry to interrupt, but what exactly will we be doing there?" Sombra asked. "Helix is working on a new series of peacekeeping automatons. If the project succeeds, they could be used heavily against us and come on the way of our operations. We will go there, sabotage the project, get rid of blueprints or other data they have on the robots and scrap all the units before they begin production." Reaper replied.

"Que bueno! more robots to hack." Sombra cheered and smirked.

"And we're bringing Cyber-wolf. Talon wants to put it to the test, especially with the new repairs and upgrades they have applied." Reaper reminded Sombra.

"Oh of course, i'll bring it!" Sombra rushed off to find the large omnic.

"Oye! Cyber-wolf, you're coming with us!" Sombra shouted out to the unit. Talon had updated the units identification protocols. In short, it was still violent, psychopathic and god damn deranged, but atleast it wouldn't claw other Talon teammates to death.

"AFF- FFIRMAAATIVE... SOMB- SOMBRA." The omnic replied with its deep, glitching voice and began to follow her. Unfortunately, they didn't fix the glitching, eerie voice, but she liked it, it was villainous and spooky, and it terrified even other Talon agents, which was quite amusing.

 **A few hours later, on the dropship.**

Reaper, Sombra and Cyber-wolf stood in silence, waiting to reach the LZ. The Talon grunts also sat mostly in silence, some chattering amongst them being heard. They were on edge because of the giant, wolf-like omnic that could shred them to pieces if it wanted to, but they'd have to deal with it.

"Alright everyone, we're approaching the landing zone. Get ready. Remember the plan. Grunts and Cyber-wolf, cause havoc in the main hall and distract the enemy forces. Sombra, infiltrate their databases and delete blueprints and other data on the Prometheus units. I will assist you and then I will head to the containment room and destroy the automatons." Reaper explained, to which the others nodded and complied. He materialized some shotguns from his cloak and kept them in hand, Sombra checked on her equipment and loaded her machine pistol, and Cyber-wolf transformed his hands into SMGs and loaded them. A few minutes passed and the ship landed, and the agents exited and awaited for Reaper's orders.

"Alright, advance on the Helix base."

 **Meanwhile, at the Helix HQ.**

The cameras eventually picked up on a strange group of people approaching the base, and the base was alerted of possible threats.

"I just received a message from the security guards. Oh no... We're under possible attack!" The scientist said in worry.

"What?! By whom!" Pharah asked. "By Talon! They saw them in the security cameras and they're approaching, fast! They aren't being stealthy, they're going all out!" The scientist replied, even more stressed now.

"I too received the message, we must set up and defend." Delta 3 suggested, to which the other two nodded.

"What about the other Prometheus units?!" Pharah shouted as they ran to group up with the others.

"They still aren't active yet. They are done with the building process but they are offline as of now, D3 was the only one chosen for demonstration!" The scientist said, noticing that maybe activating only one unit wasn't the brightest of ideas.

"Ugh! Whatever, let's just go and group up with the rest, we'll have to stick together if we want to defend this properly!" Pharah urged.

"We'll need backup, is there anyone you can call from Overwatch to help us!?" The scientist asked.

"Well I could give Overwatch a call and we could get some agents here, but they might not be able to get here in time!" Pharah replied.

"And what about the IDSF?!" The scientist asked once again.

"Sure, i'll give them both a call!" Pharah replied.

She called Winston, hoping that he would answer, thankfully, he did as soon as she called.

"Fareeha! nice to hear of you, how's the inspection going?" Winston asked, oblivious to the situation.

"Not very good! Talon has been sighted nearby and they are moving in to attack us, we need backup!" Pharah shouted in response.

"Oh god! I see! I'm sending Bastion, Genji, Aura and Dva! They'll be on their way soon!" Winston said and ended the call.

Pharah proceeded to call the IDSF. They answered quickly.

"This is IDSF emergency services, how can we help you?" A female voice spoke.

"This is Fareeha Amari from Helix Security, our base in Egypt is under attack by Talon. Is there a higher-up I can speak to!?" Pharah asked.

"I see, i'm passing him to you. Hold on." The voice replied. A minute passed and the commander spoke.

"This is Commander Barker, what do you need?" (He's the same commander that appeared a few chapters back when Titan was introduced, he will likely make more appearances) The commander asked.

"This is Pharah from Helix Security. Our base in Egypt is under attack by Talon!" Pharah exclaimed.

"Understood, i'm sending Titan." With that, the call ended.

"Okay, help is on the way." Pharah said. They met up with the rest of the defense forces of the base. Unfortunately, there weren't as much as usual, because most of them had been called to the main Helix headquarters to protect the people discussing the Prometheus project. Talon must have taken this as the perfect time to strike.

"Pharah, it's so good to see you! Those Talon people are right outside our doors." The General of the base said, acknowledging them.

"I know, who is outside? Are there elite agents? Or is it just a large group of grunts?" Pharah demanded.

"Well, we wouldn't be stressing so much if it were just a group of grunts! We're talking Reaper, Sombra and a new subject we can't identify, but its large and heavily armed. Knowing Sombra, she's probably already infiltrated our base!" The General replied.

"Fuck. Don't worry, help is on the way!" Pharah said. They set up, waiting for the Talon agents to break in.

"Wait, our security cameras just went offline!" The General said, and he know just who did it.

The group of Talon grunts burst through the main gate, but the elite agents were nowhere to be seen. Both factions opened fire and the Talon agents headed for cover. The situation quickly turned into a full-scale gun fight. The battle proceeded for a minute or two, until a giant lumbering omnic stepped into the fight. It shot at a group of Helix agents, dropping them in seconds, and jumped unto a sentry turret user with extreme agility, destroying the turret and ripping the user apart, before continuing its rampage, shooting at more agents and destroying even more turrets, giving Talon an advantage.

"Engaging the robotic threat." D3 stated before thrusting away.

"Alright, stay here, i'll go help the others!" Pharah ordered. The scientist backed away and headed for cover and hid there and Pharah flew to the fight.

Reaper entered the fight, appearing out of thin air with his shadow step, and killed some Helix soldiers, putting the odds against Helix. He killed a few more agents before dissapearing into a cloud of dark mist.

"Shit! Reaper's headed for the automatons!" The General warned.

"I'm on it!" Pharah reassured as she flew to the automaton containment room.

 **Meanwhile, in the Automaton Containment Room.**

"Sombra, have you got access?" Reaper asked.

"Yes, I've got access Reaper. I'm accesing the data and blueprints on the Prometheus units as we speak." Sombra responded.

"Good, i'm close to the robots, i'll destroy them and you finish what you're doing." Reaper replied. There were currently 5 offline automatons. Helix was so foolish, to not only leave only one of their units online, but also to have half their workforce down. They made it so easy. He unloaded his shotguns unto the automatons, rendering them to useless scrap. 30 seconds passed.

"Not so fast, Reape- NO! You monster!" Pharah shouted behind him, noticing what he had done.

"HAHAHAHA, you're too late... _Seconds,_ too late." Reaper taunted.

 **Meanwhile, at the main battleground in the Helix HQ.**

The grunts from both sides kept fighting in the main hall of the HQ. While all the agents were distracted trying to kill each other. Delta 3 and Cyber-wolf fought.

D3 tried to supercharge his thrusters and get out of the wolf's range, but it quickly shot at D3 with both of its SMGs and depleted its shields. Cyber-wolf jumped up with all his strength and tackled the Prometheus unit mid-air, both falling down. They crash-landed, but Delta 3 took most of the damage. He was pinned down, and cyber-wolf was about to claw him and finish him off, but he managed to shoot a laser into the wolf's optic, half-blinding him. Then he stood up and punched the omnic with immense strength, sending it flying back.

"ROOOOOAAAARRR" The Cyber-wolf roared into the air as he jumped up once again, headed straight for D3, but he was quick to react and fired his minigun at it quickly, stopping it in air and sending it back once more. Now both their shield's were depleted, and at this rate, neither would regenerate. The Prometheus fired a salvo of rockets where the wolf had landed. Some hit, and Cyber-wolf was stunned with pain for a few seconds, but its protective shell took some of the damage. Cyber-wolf used his claws to climb a wall and headed into cover.

"Why would you attempt escape?" D3 asked, but he noticed that Cyber-wolf wasn't escaping, but rather using drones to fix himself.

"If I allow him to heal, this fight will lengthen beyond necessary, I must not allow this." D3 remarked to himself and redirected energy to his thrusters, hovering to where Cyber-wolf was hiding. Thankfully, when he got there, his shell and optics were only partially healed.

D3 began firing its minigun and rockets at Cyber-wolf, interrupting his healing process and landing nearly every hit, but Cyber-wolf retaliated and transformed into a large robotic wolf and pounced the prometheus unit, charging itself and the prometheus into a wall.

"Enemy movement, erratic. Hard to land shots." D3 warned himself. The robotic wolf tried to pounce him once again, but D3 predicted it and fired some rockets at the robot wolf, hitting it midair and stopping its charge. However, the robot wolf counter attacked by running up to D3, dodging all of the rockets the Prometheus unit sent its way. Cyber-wolf was really close pinned down the unit once again, clawing at him multiple times.

"Serious damage sustained." Delta 3's systems warned again. He tried firing again but was cut off by another slash. So he did something bold. He charged his thrusters and jumped upwards, sending them both in the air. He used his thrusters to slow his fall and spun up his minigun, firing at the wolf mid-air, sending it back. The wolf fell hard unto the ground, still being shot by a barrage of bullet, being forced into cover. His outer shell was extremely damaged and some bullets had gone through the shell, damaging him directly. His optics were also damaged, meaning he couldn't see very well. Cyber-wolf tried shooting at the Prometheus unit and damaged one of its thrusters, but it wasn't worth staying in the fight.

"O- OPTIIIICS DAMAGED. MA- MA- MAJORRR SHELL DAAAAMAGE SUSTA- AINED, RET- RETREATING." Cyber-wolf stated and decided to retreat the fight.

"Battle, won. Area scans indicate Pharah may need help, heading for the Automaton Containment Room." D3told the General.

"Understood, go get 'em." The General replied and the omnic headed off.

 **Meanwhile, in the automaton containment room.**

"Sombra, status! Pharah's giving me trouble." Reaper urged through the comms. His shotguns were strong but Pharah could just stay up in the air, meaning his shotguns did extremely minimal damage.

"Yes, I deleted all blueprints and data on the Prometheus units from their systems, i'm on my way."

Reaper and Pharah fought for a few more minutes and Sombra appeared.

"Hey there!" Sombra said as she uncloaked and hacked Pharah's suit.

"What the- AAHHHHHHHHHH!" Pharah screamed as her suit was hacked and her jets jammed. She quickly fell down to the ground. Just before she hit the ground, something caught her.

"Got you." D3 reassured.

"So, there's still one left... Easy." Sombra taunted and hacked the Prometheus unit.

"Thr- Thrusters ja- jammed. Lasers maaaalfunctioning. You- You'll have to do beeeett- tterr than that." D3 spoke. It was strange. She only jammed the unit's weapons? She tried hacking it again but it had no effect other than jamming its weapons once more. Why wasn't the unit turning off or malfunctioning like she did to Cyber-wolf.

"Scans suggest you are confused. I have multiple anti-hacking countermeasures. It seems your hacking technology has not yet adapted to such systems. If you wish to decommission me through mere hacking, you'll have to do better than that." D3 stated, his systems restoring from the hack.

"Ugh! Enough, let's get this over with!" Sombra shouted and the 4 began to fight.

Pharah fired a concussion mine at Reaper and Sombra, sending them flying into a wall. D3 took this as a chance to attack. He spun up his minigun and fired at the wall where Reaper and Sombra were.

"Shit, look out!" Reaper warned and wraithed out of the area. Sombra quickly launched her translocator and warped out of the way. Shehacked Pharah once again to prevent her from flying away and focused her down. Pharah countered by firing rockets at her, sending her back when a rocket exploded close to her.

"Agh, puta, that actually hurt." Sombra congratulated. Reaper managed to get close to D3 but he counter attacked by punching Reaper and sending rockets his way.

"Sombra, i'm injured. We got what we came for, let's get out of here." Reaper commanded.

"You got it!" Sombra replied and threw her translocator at the exit for good measure.

"You're not going anywhere!" Pharah said as she fired her rocket barrage at the Talon agents. Reaper managed to shadow step out of the way and turned into a cloud of mist, getting out of the area quickly. Sombra EMP'd Pharah and D3 to prevent them from chasing them. She warped to the exit and followed Reaper.

"They're getting away and my jets are offline!" Pharah stated.

"My weapon systems and thrusters are jammed too. Rebooting." D3 said in return. A few seconds passed and both their systems came back online and they chased after the Talon elites.

 **Meanwhile, at the Main Hall.**

"Wait, that's Overwatch!" One of the Helix grunts said as a dropship approached. Out of it came out Genji, Dva, Aura and a Bastion unit. The Bastion quickly set up and began firing at the Talon grunts, forcing them to retreat. Aura flew up in the air and fired energy at the grunts and Genji unsheathed his swords and dashed to the grunts, slashing at them, eliminating them one by one, and Dva booster herself to the grunts and began gobbling up their bullets with her defense matrix before firing at them. Titan arrived into the scene as well and noticed the Talon forces.

"Those guys again..." Tyler thought to himself, annoyed. He noticed Reaper and Sombra come out of the containment room and into the battlegrounds.

"Everyone! I see Reaper and Sombra headed for the exit." Titan warned the others and fired a tank missile at them, the explosion barely missing them.

"All of you, we're retreating, we got what we came for!" Reaper ordered and the grunts quickly followed. Cyber-wolf dashed after them.

"Don't let them escape!" Aura said.

"You got it!" Titan replied and locked on to them and sent rockets their way. Unfortunately, most of the Talon agents managed to get through the exit, but he managed to get some of the grunts.

D3, Pharah, Titan, Aura, Genji, Dva and Bastion all rushed to the door and saw the Talon members getting on the dropship.

"Take that dropship down!" Pharah commanded.

Bastion transformed into a turret and fired at the ship and D3 fired his minigun into one of the engines, but the wind caused his bullets to hit the outer shell instead. Everyone fired what they could at the dropship, but it flew away at high speeds. At that rate they wouldn't catch up.

"God dammit! They got away with it!" Dva cursed.

"It's alright, you did what you could. Without your help, more lives would've been lost." The scientist said with sadness. All of the heroes knew what happened. They were late.

"4 years of work down the drain. Talon scum." The scientist said, his voice filled with hate towards Talon.

"We're... We're sorry, we should've got here quicker." Genji said, trying to calm the scientist.

"No, it's alright, it wasn't your fault. Now the automatons are wrecked and all our data on them is gone. We won't be able to replicate them and if we try, it will be a long time, what's the point." The scientist said, calming down.

"What will happen now?" Titan asked.

"I don't know, we'll focus on rebuilding. As for D3, I'd say your best bet is to stay with Overwatch. Do as you will. Farewell." The scientist dismissed himself and headed back to the base. "I really wish there is something we could've done..." Nate said, and the others nodded in agreement.

"I suppose, since there aren't any other active units of my kind, i'll take on the name 'Prometheus'. Am I to assist you with Overwatch?" Prometheus asked.

"I guess so, we could use your help, besides, where else would you go?" Dva replied.

"I don't know, hence why I asked." Prometheus stated. Everyone focused on figuring out what they would do that they didn't ask anything about Prometheus or the Cyber-wolf.

And so the others said. "Well, welcome to Overwatch."

 **Alright, REALLY long chapter this time. I guess I just got really into it. There was a lot to write about indeed. New character introduced blah blah.**


	18. Yer fired!

**ALRIGHT EVERYBODY! Sorry for the lack of updates on both my fics. I've been real busy with school but I have finally begun my vacations so hopefully I'll be uploading more. I've been real slow on this fic for a couple reasons. 1. I wasn't sure how you guys felt about it and 2. The Multiverse Chronicles was much more well recieved (more favorites, reviews, views per chapter, etc.) so I wanted to update that one more and I'm not really sure how you guys feel about this one. But either way, here's an update for those that have been waiting for one. I'll try to update both my fics equally. On with the story.**

"Alright, now that things are a bit more calm, anyone noticed the giant ass robo-wolf?" Nate asked, drawing attention from the others.

"I fought him directly. From my scans, I believe it is a Cyber-Wolf from one of the recent Volskaya projects." Prometheus replied.

"A Cyber-wolf? Wasn't that project rejected by the government?" Titan said. "Indeed. However, it is possible that the unit came online, and Talon found it." Prometheus explained.

"That makes sense- Wait... I got a call." Titan said. "Commander! What do you need?"

"Status on the Helix defense?" The commander asked through the comms, it was just enough so that the others could hear. "We managed to push Talon back, but by the time we arrived, the units were already scrapped." Titan replied.

"Damn, I see... Wait, did you say we? Who else came?" The Commander asked. "Overwatch sent a few members of their own." Titan said.

"Overwatch!? Did you arrest them?" Commander Barker demanded. "Arrest them!? But they've done nothing wrong." Titan retaliated.

"Look kid, they may have helped but it doesn't change the fact that they operate illegally! By law, you are in power to arrest them, and you must!" The Commander scolded. "Negative sir, even if the Petras Act states it, I will not detain the agents. It's so much bullshit. In fact, ever since they were recalled, they have contributed only good actions to the world, yet you expect me to arrest them?" Titan replied.

Commander Barker sighed. "I thought you would say that kid. We are the IDSF, and the world expects us to follow the law and to do what the world believes is best. The world believes it would be best for Overwatch to remain inactive!" The Commander argued. "Well I beg to differ." Titan counter-argued. "Look, I have great respect for you, but as your leading Commander, I make the decisions. Since you reject direct orders from your superiors, violate the law and the Petras Act, and go against the IDSF, I have no other option but to remove your title in the IDSF, sorry kid. You're fired." Commander Barker stated.

"What! That's outrageous! I spent years fighting for you! And this is what I get!? Just because I refuse to arrest heroes, you remove me from the IDSF entirely!?" Titan objected, almost shouting in anger.

"I'm sorry, as I said, I have no other options. It's been the third time you have had the opportunity to detain them and you haven't. I know you admire them but it doesn't make them right. If I didn't do this, I myself would be disobeying the IDSF's rules. You are intentionally refusing to follow orders and refusing to arrest major criminals when you have the chance to do so. It pains me to say this, but you're out unless you follow my orders." The Commander said.

"Well i'm keeping the armor, jackass!" Titan shouted and ended the call. He looked up only to see six worried faces. Well, the Bastion and the Prometheus didn't exactly have facial expressions to begin with, but he could still feel their pity. "Ah fuck... Fucking great!" Titan shouted.

"I, I am sorry for what happened..." Pharah said with a tone of guilt in her voice. "Don't worry, it's not your fault, it's no one's fault. I'm just so pissed that for years, years! I worked for them, and I rose through the ranks through countless amounts of effort, just to be dumped for refusing to arrest people that don't deserve to be arrested. If anything, now I know i'm better off without your jackasses. I... I need time to cool off, that's all. I need to think..." Titan said, reassuring Pharah, trying to keep his composure.

"Well, if you want, you could stay with us. We're always willing to take in more recruits, aren't we?" Nate said. "You mean it?" Titan asked. It was hard to believe that after working for an organization that tried to hunt down Overwatch agents for so long, well, not exactly hunting like Reaper, but still, they'd just take him in, it showed him who the real good guys were. "Totally! Winston will be thrilled when he sees we got two new recruits!" Hana cheered. "Well I'm not sure Torb will be really 'thrilled' when he sees D3 but for all I care he can suck it up and deal with it." Nate added, earning a 'chuckle' from the Bastion unit.

 ***A few hours later, landing on Watchpoint Gibraltar***

"Alright, we're here!" Hana said. The ORCA ship landed and everyone quickly stepped out. Everyone headed for their rooms, except for D3, Titan and Nate, who volunteered to guide them.

"Winston, mind if I come in?" Nate asked. "Not at all! What do you need?" Winston said, and the three stepped in. "These two would like to join." Nate replied, pointing at the prometheus unit and Titan. "Titan? Weren't you working for the IDSF?"

"Right... about that... I got fired. I don't want to talk about it." Titan said. "Oh, I see. Well, you can always stay with us. Any form of help is welcome!" Winston said. "As for you, Fareeha already told me what happened when you were on your way. You can stay too!" Winston said, referring to D3. He assigned them rooms and added them to the Overwatch agents database.

"Oh and before you go, there's been news of some sort of vigilante in Japan. Hanamura to be exact. Maybe you could go?" Winston asked. "I could go!" Nate said. "I suppose I can go as well. It's the least I can do." Titan said. "Thanks. You'll leave 3 days from now. For now, just do whatever you'd like. Get settled in, meet the others, you're free to go."

 ***3 days later***

Nate, now wearing his full combat outfit and mask, and Titan, stepped into the dropship. Nate set their coordinates and the dropship launched into the air.

"So, if we can both fly, why are we using a dropship to get to Japan. I mean, my suit batteries are built to last for months without failing." Titan asked purely out of curiosity. "For one its quicker, and less tiring." Aura replied. "Tiring?" Titan asked. "Well yes. You think flying around and blasting energy doesn't demand effort? Look at it this way. I'm a big energy power supply. Flying or using energy a lot drains some of that supply. If I were to blast out a gigantic ray of energy, because I can, I'd pass out because of the strain. Granted I can still use my powers for a a decent amount of time before there's a big, noticeable drain, but flying to Japan? Too much time flying." Aura explained, and Titan nodded in understanding. "Lucky you, just joined and already given a mission! Alright, let's do this."

 ***Meanwhile, in Japan***

It was a peaceful night in Hanamura, everyone walked about and headed into restaurants, went shopping, or whatever other activities they had planned for the holidays. Kai overlooked the city. Suddenly an explosion was heard at a bank nearby and the screams of citizens right after. "Oh dammit... What now." Kai said. Soon after the explosion, three thieves ran out the store and got in a van, carrying large bags of money. Kai put his mask on and chased after the thieves, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He caught up to the van and jumped into it, unsheating his blades, a loud thud being heard as he landed. His blades jabbed themselves into the back of the van as he landed. He grabbed them again and climbed to the passenger door, ripping it out. He grabbed the thief by the shirt and threw him out of the van, and kicked the driver out, stopping the van. The third thief came out of the van and the other two stood up and drew their guns and aimed them at the vigilante. The thieves opened fire, but Kai used his blades to block the bullets. He used a smoke bomb, disappearing from view. "What! Were did he go?!" One of the thieves asked. The vigilante reappeared behind him and kicked the thief, knocking him out. The second thief fired at Kai, but a loud blast was heard in the distance, and a bright blue ball hit the thief, knocking him out. Soon the third thief was hit by another blast, orange this time. Two figures descended from the sky and landed next to the vigilante. "So, you reckon he's the guy were after?" Aura asked. "Hmm, maybe... I don't think so though." Titan responded sarcastically. "What do you want?" Kai asked. "We only want to help you- oh that's the police." Aura said but was cut off when he heard police sirens. Three police cars stopped at the scene and the cops stepped out, aiming their weapons at the agents. "Woah! Woah! Guys we're the good people here!" Aura said, but was ignored by the cops. "I guess they don't like you?" Titan asked. "Well, they aren't huge fans of my actions." Kai said. "Grab my hand!" Aura said. Kai opened his mouth to ask why but decided to comply. Aura and Titan lifted up into the air and flew back to the dropship. "Sorry for the... bumpy flight..." Aura apologized. "Wait, you're that guy from Overwatch? Aren't you?" Kai asked, and Aura nodded. "So you said you wanted to help me? Didn't you?" Kai said. "Yes, your actions have been noticed by us. We'd like to recruit you. Angela was more willing to recruit you since you weren't as... violent... as Spectre. Anyways in getting off topic here." Aura said. "Recruit me?" Kai stopped to think about it. He didn't really have anyone here in Hanamura, perhaps Overwatch would be better than his crappy rooftop apartment which he barely ever used. "I suppose i'll join you. I guess its the wisest course of action" Kai said and without any further ado, the three stepped into the dropship.

 **ALRIGHT! New character introduced. I know this introduction was very vague, but I swear things will become more interesting next chapter. Kai has medium-length white hair, yellow eyes (Like Geralt from the Witcher), he's 23, average height. He has a sleeveless dark 'ninja' outfit with red outlines and a red mask that covers the lower half of his face. Oh boy do I love these descriptions. Oh and for those that need more EVIL in their lives... FEAR NOT, for I have some villains cooking up behind the scenes. HAHAHAHAHHA**


	19. The Shadow Blade

**This will be continuing exactly after where chapter 18 ended. I promise this will add more depth to Kai. Also, please review if you can. This story doesn't have a whole lot of them and it would really encourage me to keep going. I really want to know what you guys think, it would mean a lot (I'm really not desperate for feedback at all, I swear). Anyways on with the story!**

"So where exactly are we headed?" Kai asked. "Gibraltar. That's where our base is located." Titan replied. "By the way, what's your name?" Nate asked. "Oh, my name's Kai." He responded.

The three made small talk to keep themselves entertained while they flew to the Watchpoint.

"Soooooo, do you have a 'vigilante name', you know." Nate asked out of curiosity. "Well, the people of Hanamura used to refer to me as the 'Shadow Blade', but I never really took up the name officially." Kai replied. "And how did you become a vigilante exactly?" Titan asked.

Kai sighed painfully at the memory, but he spoke up anyways.

"It started many, many years ago... When I was still very young, a small child even, and I still have little memory of those years. I lived with my family peacefully, but one day a fight broke out between my family and a group whose name I don't remember. I was separated from my family and they never found me. I assume they thought I was dead, and one day they stopped searching. My family did many things I wasn't proud of, but I loved them anyways. I was lost in the streets, but a lady took me in. Since then, I never saw my family again. They thought I was gone and I never got the chance to meet them again, but this lady gave me a chance to move on, so I stayed with her. She gave me a home, managed to get me back into a proper education, and many years later, when I was ready, she gave me some money and so I was back out into the world. But Japan was in a state of disarray after the Omnic Crisis ended. There was crime, hate, inequality, and while Japan seemed stable on the outside, it wasn't that pretty on the inside. And yet the authorities did nothing, and the hate continued. So for the following years I trained to become better, stronger and more efficient. I returned to an old site that belonged to my family, and I salvaged the equipment I could. That place was meant to be a storage of gear that would be passed down to me, but since that day never came, it remained there. I took it, trained with it and learnt how to use it, and learnt its secrets and techniques. So, a few months after that, when I first appeared, I began to fight the crime and hate that the authorities were so arrogant and unfitting to deal with, and over the months, I gained a reputation for myself, a reputation that forced me to stay in hiding, in the shadows. And while I earned trust and love from the people of Hanamura, the authorities thought otherwise. To them, I was just another vigilante operating illegally. And well, I continued, until my actions came to your notice, and now we're here."

"Wow, that sounds tough, I'm sorry that you had to go through that." Nate said. Kai never mentioned who his family was or who the lady was, but he didn't press on about it; it was clear it was a tough topic for him. "Thanks." The following minutes were passed in silence, but thankfully they arrived at the watchpoint, and stepped off.

"This place is beautiful..." Kai said, staring at the sunset and the installations, taking off his mask. "I know. Anyways, how about we walk around so you get to know the facilities." Nate said and Kai followed. The three walked around until they reached the training room. "What's this place?" Kai asked. "That's the training room. Here agents come daily to train. It comes equipped with self-rebuilding training bots, so you don't have to worry if you destroy them." Nate explained. A few seconds passed and Kai spoke up. "May I try?" Nate simply nodded and he stepped in.

"Agent detected. Begin training course?" Athena asked. "Yes?" Kai said, unsure about how to reply to the AI. "Very well, starting training course." Athena replied and the course began. Training bots began to appear around the room and aimed their weapons at him. The robots opened fire, but Kai blocked their bullets with his sword, and managing to deflect some of them back at one of the robots. One down. He threw a smoke bomb at his feet, disappearing from view. Soon, a few robots were cut to pieces and Kai reappeared from thin air. As the fight continued, Genji appeared.

"So, who is he?" Genji asked curiously as he noticed the katana-using fighter. "Oh, he's the vigilante we were tasked to recruit, he was hesitant at first, but he decided to come with us. He wanted to try out the arena." Nate explained. "I see, he seems skilled." Genji remarked.

Kai continued the battle against the robots. Some of the training bots fired at him, forcing him to cover. Kai grabbed a kunai from his pocket and threw it at one of the sentry bots, hitting it in the head. While it was distracted, he ran up to it and grabbed the kunai, moving it upwards, cutting what was left of the bot's head in half. Using the same kunai, he stabbed one of the bots in the back, and while it was stunned, he cut the bot's head off. There were only a few left.

But what happened next took everyone off guard. " _Doragonzu wa watashi ni chikara o ataeru!_ " Kai shouted as his tattoos in his arms began glowing, and two yellow dragons appeared, spiraling around Kai's blades before disappearing. A bright yellow glow covered Kai, and his eyes shone a bright gold. He sprinted at the robots nearly twice as fast as he did before, and slashed at them at a speed not even Genji could achieve. Soon after, the sentry bots were nothing more but bits and pieces, and the bright yellow glow ceased. Kai panted and sweat dripped down his head and neck. "Well done, training course complete." Athena congratulated and the robots rebuilt themselves and went back into storage.

"That's not possible... He used the dragons, controlled them... Only a Shimada can do such a thing." Genji said, trying to find the words. Kai looked back at Genji as he said that, and walked up to him. "How did you do that?" Genji asked, demanding but not threatening or imposing. "I am a Shimada." Kai said flatly. Genji took a few seconds to process what Kai had just said, and pulled him into a strong hug. "Kai! I can't believe it! It's actually you!" Genji said, filled with joy. "Wait... Genji!? What happened to you?" Kai said. "What happened to you? We all thought you died, we looked for you for days after the clan fight broke out! Why didn't you return? What did you do all those years?" Genji asked, question after question pouring out. "I... never had the chance... After you stopped searching, you closed the doors of the castle. It's not like I could wander back in. I suppose the opportunity never presented itself. A lady took me in and raised me since then, and once I was older I trained by myself, trying to finish the training I never completed back home." Kai explained. "It's alright, it's best later than never. Come with me! Hanzo will be overjoyed when he sees you!" Genji said, taking Kai with him.

Nate and Tyler looked at Genji and Kai as they walked off, catching up on things. "Huh, well would you look at that."

 ** _Doragonzu wa watashi ni chikara o ataeru_ (ドラゴンズは私に力を与える) =The dragons empower me**

 **Well thats all for now folks! Hope you were satisfied, and as I said, please leave a review if you can, it's great motivation. Tell me what you think, whether its good or bad, any criticism is good.**


	20. Christmas with Specter, Rogue's New Year

**Hey there guys! I am deeply sorry for the lack of updates on both my stories, but i've been travelling non-stop for the last two weeks. First I went to the beach for like a week, then went to the US for a cruise trip, with no internet (I didn't buy the internet pack, it was expensive af) and barely any time to write or upload, so I'm really sorry for lack of updates. Hopefully you don't mind a late christmas/new year chapter. More "relevant" story chapters will be up soon, hopefully, if the lazy cunt part of me doesn't take over...**

Christmas decorations had littered Watchpoint Gibraltar. Tons of new faces were seen in the Watchpoint. Tracer had brought Emily, her girlfriend. Torbjorn brought his wife and kids over and many other agents brought a few others as well. Even when not everyone celebrated christmas as their official holiday, everyone still had fun and enjoyed the times together.

It was Christmas eve, almost midnight, and after a long feast which left pretty much everyone sure they gained weight, they gathered around the Christmas tree to exchange presents. But something was off... a certain someone was missing. "Hey Tyler, you seen Alex?" Nate asked. "Who?" Nate rolled his eyes. "Specter..." Nate said. "Nope, haven't seen him." Tyler responded innocently. "Ugh, great help _Titan_... I'm gonna go look for him." Nate said before leaving the room.

Finding Specter was fairly easy thanks to his flying powers ( _Or more scientifically, the power of control of redirected energy from matter and air, through which channeling it allows him to lift thineself into thine air, as well as such redirection allowing for weaponized use, including blasts and controlled rays, and genetical augmentations in the form of mutations, particularly in raw strength and slightly improved healing capability_ ). Nate landed quietly next to Specter, but even then, Specter's head quickly snapped at Nate, his mechanical eye staring right into him like a predator, picking up on even the softest noises. Specter soon lost interest and turned his head back. "What do you want?" Specter asked coldly. "What do I want? What are you doing here all alone? Don't you wanna come down with the rest of us for the celebration?" Nate asked, question after question. "No. I stopped celebrating Christmas a long time ago. Plus, I don't like to be seen without my mask on." Specter said coldly. "Well I'll be damned EdgyMcEdgyPants but I don't give a shit about what you feel, you're coming with. Okay that was cruel... But come on Alex, I know you had a rough past but all of us here, we're like a family, and you're a part of it. Even if you don't have your old family with you, you have us, so why don't you come down with us and have some fun for once. Even Jack is down there enjoying himself, and he's been through hell and back too, hell he's grumpier than you are. Come on, please?" Nate finished his little speech, his face wearing an expression that begged for Alex to come with him. "Alright alright. Fine. I'll go get some proper clothes and I'll catch up to you. Ok?" Alex said, deciding that he wasn't going anywhere if he declined. "Okay! See ya down there!" Nate said and quickly flew off back to the party.

 ***Later at the party***

"Hey Nate, you're back? You find him." Tyler said waving at him along with Lena and a girl he didn't recognize. "Yep, he should be on his way." He responded. "Oh cool. Anyways Lena here was just introducing me to her girlfriend. Her name's Emily! She's pretty cool." Tyler said. "Alright. I'm Nathan, but you can call me Nate." Nate said. "Oh yeah, you're one of the newer members, Aura right? The one that flies." Emily said. "What do you mean? I'm clearly Zenyatta!" Nate joked and began levitating in a meditating pose like the omnic monk would, gaining a laugh from the others (insert laugh track here). "Whaaaat, you were Zenyatta all along?" Lena asked, faking disbelief. "Yes, embrace tranquility."

Alex finally entered the room and decided to approach Nate's group. After reaching their table, he sat down. "Hi... Who are you?" Alex asked, but it came out colder and more demanding than he wanted it to be, but thankfully no one seemed to notice. "I'm Emily! Lena's girlfriend. I'll be staying for the holidays, y'know ever since Overwatch work got more demanding and she had to move away we haven't seen each other as frequently as we'd like, so i'm taking any chance I can get to stay around!" Emily said, her ever bubbly personality showing. No wonder Tracer got together with her. "I'm Alex... and I don't really have much to talk about." Alex said, deciding that his life as a murderous anti-hero was a bad conversation topic. "How come I haven't seen you anywhere in the party?" Emily asked. "Oh I was uh, training..." Alex lied. "Oh really? What are your abilities?" Emily asked. "Right, you probably don't recognize me because I always work with my mask and hood on, I'm Specter." Alex explained. "Ah! The New York vigilante! I was wondering how you got the scars and the eye and all. You don't look as threatening or evil as your outfit made you look." Emily said, and Alex wouldn't dare admit it, but it made him warm inside. It had been a long time since he had received a compliment. Maybe he should hang around more often.

The next few hours were passed with various activities. Everyone exchanged presents. D3 and Bastion even got Torbjorn's family a basket of hand-picked flowers, which confused Torbjorn at first, but when he saw the smiles in his kids' faces, he thought that maybe those bots weren't as bad as he thought. He'd think about it later. Lena of course got EVERYONE a present, even to Ganymede, which got a little bird house. After the present exchange was over, everyone decided to have a few drinks or snacks and simply spend time as family. Ana and Fareeha decided to have some much needed mother-daughter time. Jack and Reinhardt spoke of the old days, and Genji, Hanzo and Kai had some drinks together and then headed to the training room to fight together. (And since you're all probably tired of this filler shite, let's move on to new year!)

 ***6 days later, on New Year's eve***

The Christmas decorations were taken down, being replaced with less festive, and more party-like decorations. There was a large table full of snacks, drinks and sodas, as well as red plastic cups for everyone to enjoy as they waited for New Year.

"Attention everyone! 10 minutes left!" Lucio announced, gaining a cheer from everyone, and kept playing his music.

 ***Meanwhile at Rogue's***

"Ah New Year, the time where nothing particularly important actually happens, but a good time nevertheless." Rogue said to himself as he inspected some of his new bolts. "Poisonous toxin bolts. Severely slow and weaken targets. Pretty good damage too. I can even track the bolt... Seems good. Good replacement to my fire bolt." Rogue muttered. "Hmm, toxic gas clouds. Explodes on impact. Infects targets in range, weakening them. I can also track the bolt, seems good too. This will replace my cluster bombs."

After some gear checks, Rogue sat down and relaxed. " _Ah it's always quite lonely this time of year, but as a merc on the run, you don't get many chances to relax and make friends, heh. But hey, at least I got that super cool jet I stole from Talon. Hah, those jerks better step up their game if they wanna stay relevant, though I'm sure they're up to something, after all, they HAVE been growing in numbers._ " Rogue thought to himself, and turned on the TV. There was a news broadcast of Junkrat and Roadhog getting away with another robbery and the police after them. Then there was another news cast of Symmetra being fired from Vishkar for disagreeing with their 'oppresive' and 'extreme' views and refusing to cooperate. Then another of recent Overwatch missions and actions and a debate on whether the Petras Act should stay in action or if it should be cancelled.

" _Oi, Overwatch... Last I heard they were taking new recruits. That's what one of my contractors said. Maybe I should join up. I'll think about it-_ " Rogue kept thinking to himself, but his thoughts were interrupted when the New Year's countdown began. "30 seconds left people!" 10 seconds passed. "20 seconds left everyone!" Another 10 seconds passed. "Last 10 seconds!" The news man said. Rogue sighed. "Alright here goes nothin'! 9, 8, 7, 6..."

 ***Meanwhile in Watchpoint Gibraltar***

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everyone shouted in unison, cheering and sharing drinks.

"Happy 2077!"


	21. Looking back to the past

**TALON DATABASE**

 _Accessing files..._

 _Browsing 'Ongoing projects'..._

Access granted.

 _Accessing project 'Fire and Lightning'..._

Access granted.

 **Project B-67 "Fire and Lightning"**

 **Goal:** Create new mutants.

 **Test subjects:** Select civilians from last attack and volunteered personnel.

 **State:** Victims successfully contained and slept. Serum successfully completed. Awaiting further instruction.

 **Details:** Use new serum samples on select victims to create mutated soldiers. Recondition victims to assure their loyalty to Talon.

 **WARNING:** Chemicals highly dangerous. Advised to proceed with extreme caution. Injury or death of subjects possible. .

 _Ending connection..._

The Talon scientist finished reading over the summarized details of the project and waited. "Are we authorized to proceed?" The scientist asked to his co-worker. "Yeah, we just got confirmation. Proceed with the project." The other scientist said.

There were 10 pods with one person each. They were either volunteered Talon soldiers or kidnapped civilians from Talon's last terror attack. There were two large containers. One was blue and had a lightning-based serum and the other was red and had a fire-based serum. If the serum was successful and a good amount of victims survived then the serum would be replicated and applied to more soldiers. The lightning serum would grant the victim lightning based mutations. They would gain control of lightning and increased speed and reflexes, while the fire serum would grant the victim fire based mutations, which would in turn give the user control of fire and smoke, as well as increased strength but not that much speed.

That was the idea behind the project anyways. And what sparked the inspiration for it? Project A-66. This was essentially an improved version of that with more refined chemicals, however they were still a bit dangerous and unpredictable. Not only did these new serums grant the user augmentations such as strength or reflexes, but the lightning and fire powers also removed the need for weapons, which would increase Talon's budget for other areas, or at least in theory.

The lightning serum would be used on half of the victims, and the fire serum on the other half. There the serum would be divided amongst the halves. Civilian victims would be reconditioned if they survived the tests, and Talon personnel would simply be reintroduced into Talon's forces. The plan was set and authorization was confirmed. Now all that was needed was to carry out the tests themselves...

 ***Meanwhile in another part of Talon's headquarters***

"Agent Drake Ryker and Agent Pulse please report to the briefing room immediately." The message was heard throughout the Talon base, and the two decided to go without any delay. Drake Ryker was a "veteran" member of Talon, much like Reaper, while 'Pulse' was a much newer member. Both were experts of gun and hand-to-hand combat, as well as stealth.

The two made it to the briefing room and were greeted by Reaper as well as a Talon higher up. "Ah Reaper, Reyes my old pal. You comin' with us to the mission?" Ryker said. "Unfortunately, no. I will be staying here for now to oversee the progress on project B-67. However, I volunteered for the briefing. Now listen up." Reaper said and brought up the mission details.

"You will be sent to infiltrate a Helix base in Germany to retrieve tech, namely weapons and ammunition, as well as some intel about Overwatch that they've been hiding. The details will be on your mission log. Both of you are skilled in stealth and Pulse's infrared technology will be highly useful in this mission. If things go south we'll have air support ready and we're sending a small squad to go with you. That is all." Reaper finished his briefing, and the higher up filled them on some final details. "You are the new blood here, Pulse. This is your chance to prove yourself. Do not make me regret giving you the privilege of high rank." The Talon commander said, and dismissed the pair. The two headed to their quarters, grabbed their gear, and then headed to their assigned airship and boarded it.

Ryker looked at the younger man and noticed something. Pulse was awfully stiff, like he was deep in thought. "Something bothering ya? You seem nervous." Ryker said, pulling his partner out of his thoughts. "It's nothing. Just the pressure they've put on us." Pulse said and pretended to check on his gear to avoid conversation. That's when a funny thought entered Ryker's mind, and he smirked.

"Are you scared of me?" Ryker asked, and it wasn't a dumb question. Many around Talon were scared by his ruthlessness and intimidating aura.

Even his armor looked scary. It was a special experimental combat nanosuit (No i'm not talking about crysis, though it looks a little bit like a crysis nanosuit, except for the mask). It was dark grey with red as the accent color. It covered his entire body and he had a belt that carried gun holsters for his dual pistols and ammo mags. It also had dual bandolier belts around the chest and back that made room for a tac knife, ammo and a few gadgets and Talon gear. His mask covered his entire face and had two pure red holes for his eyes, and a skull carved into it. The suit came with a few extra features like night vision, and built in communicator. The suit's nano technology granted the user increased strength, speed, and overall reflexes, which made Ryker extra deadly in hand to hand combat and faster when moving and sprinting. This let him get around really easily during his missions.

"What? Of course not." Pulse answered flatly, but he didn't trick the older man. "Yeah you do. But don't fear. In fact, there's a lot we have in common. We share a similar backstory, after all."

 ***Flashback. Ryker's POV***

 _I was on a trip with my family to Numbani. I was in my mid 20's then. The city's reputation of peace and acceptance attracted hundreds every day, and my parents and I were no exception. We were having the time of our lives, the trip was amazing. But the last day of our trip, we were caught in the crossfire between Doomfist and Overwatch. The Scourge attacked that day, crumbling and crippling buildings and people without even trying. Overwatch arrived soon after the attack with a strike team of 5. Amongst them was Winston, one of the newer members at the time. A genius scientist gorilla who should not be underestimated in battle. It filled me with hope, but it was short lived. After the battle, Doomfist died, and for years, there wasn't a successor, but my parents were left on the brink of death. Overwatch left, without a care in the world. They didn't care for the collateral damage they caused, they didn't even stay to look after the wounded! They left everyone injured to die, they left them on their own after all the destruction the battle had caused, and yet they were paraded as heroes, as saviors of the world. My parents were bleeding out and I was desperate for help when the medics arrived. They barely survived, but they were both left handicapped. Ever since that day my hate for Overwatch only grew. Because of their recklessness. Because of their carelessness. Call if what you want. But they aren't heroes, that's bullshit._

 _Gabriel Reyes looked over the mission briefings. Blackwatch often did the briefing and paperwork for Overwatch while they actively fought. He looked over the videos and he noticed a desperate man and two injured people beside him. Another victim of collateral damage, he thought. But he saw the hatred in his eyes and thought that maybe this one could be useful for his cause against Overwatch. He found me a few days after the battle, while I stayed in Numbani, hoping that my parents would live. He offered me to join him, and I wanted to refuse. "Why the fuck would I join you. Blackwatch is still Overwatch, and I hate them. Look what they've caused! They didn't even try to stay and help!" I said, but Reyes told me all about HIS hatred for Overwatch and Morrison, and how we shared an interest. He told me about his plan to cause a rebellion and destroy Overwatch from within, and I accepted._

 _Under his watch, I was trained. I became skilled at hand-to-hand combat and gun-slinging. I was trained about everything I needed to be an effective member of blackwatch. I became proficient in both combat and technology, and I learnt multiple martial arts. Then, many months later after joining, I was ready, and I officially became a member of Blackwatch. Skip forward a few years and the fight in Zurich had taken place, and when it ended and the headquarters exploded, I was upon the few survivors. I thought Reyes was dead, and I moved on with my life. Skip forward multiple years and I was recruited by Talon. I decided to see what it was about, and I found Reyes again, this time as Reaper. I joined and I was granted some new gear, the nanosuit and a pair of new hand cannons, and well, there isn't much after that._

 ***Back to the present***

"So you see, we're more alike than we are different. We both became what we are because of our hatred for Overwatch. For leaving us behind when we needed them most, for being careless. You remember don't you? Talon's attack on New York a few months back, when Specter first made his appearance. You were left injured and left to die by them, and then Talon took you in, gave you a chance, trained you, made you into who you are now. And now, they expect big things of you." Ryker said.

"I... suppose you're right. Let's get this done." Pulse said, somewhat reassured after the backstory. "Oh and, I know I'm all scary and ruthless as a Talon higher-up but I'll go easy on ya, for now..." The older man said, teasing the younger man.

"Alright everyone listen up. Here's the plan. Half of you are coming with us, we'll infiltrate the base and enter their weapons cache, and then their terminals. The other half will stay around and provide covering fire. After we get the weapons and data, we'll call in extraction to get us out before anyone can reach us. If things go south and Overwatch or Helix come for us, call in air support and Talon will send more troops to help us. Let's get this done." Ryker explained to the soldiers and they all nodded and exited the dropship and approached the base. "Alright, let's do this." Pulse said and the pair exited the dropship, and caught up to the troops.

 **A/N: Alright! Two new OCs! The next chapter will tell continue on Ryker's and Pulse's mission and will return to project B-67 Fire and Lightning. So basically the project is Talon's se** **cond attempt at a super soldier serum but they added cool super powers into the mix this time! We'll see what happens with that.**

 **First OC (Drake Ryker):** **Ryker is, as said earlier, and old member of Blackwatch who then joined Talon. He was upon the few that survived the Zurich HQ explosion. He has dual hand cannons that can shift into automatic pistols and his nanosuit grants him augmentations that make him deadly in combat, and it has a few extra nifty features too.**

 **Second OC (Pulse):** **Pulse is a younger recruit of Talon, around 25 years old. He also has dual pistols but they're energy based and semi automatic. The thing is that they have quick trigger response so he can fire super quick and they can be but together to form a large energy cannon that fires like a rail gun** **. He also has an infrared visor that let's him scan the environment and reveal enemies through infrared** **pulses, hence his name. He also has pulse grenades that incinerate enemies and sends out a single pulse, briefly revealing enemies that survive to finish them off. His suit is plain black with green outlines and lights, and his helmet is quite like soldier 76's but if covers his entire face and head and is pure black. It then has a bright green visor that looks similar to S76's.**

 **And since I'm outright horrible at descriptions and you're probably tired of my rambling I'll leave it here. See ya on the next chapter!**

 **Oh yeah and credit goes to thekillerofzs for suggesting the concept for Drake Ryker. I did change a few things and it's not like what he originally suggested but I give credit nevertheless.**


	22. The infiltration of Helix, Germany

**No! I'm not dead! It's just that school is a bitch. Okay maybe it has to do a bit with me being a lazy fuck but still, school kinda is a bitch. Also something I wanna point out is that a few chapters ago I uploaded a link to an artwork of Aura aka Nathan. Since that was the first artwork I ever got of him then it's more of a base than anything (I mean that he doesn't actually look a lot like that. Just imagine him like in the artwork but cooler/less bland or generic, but the drawing is definitely a good base) Anyways on with the story!**

"Alright. Here's the plan. Team 1, you'll be going around the base, taking out any guards in your way. Your weapons are suppressed for a reason, so don't get caught, alright? Once you reach the back notify us. Pulse and I will be infiltrating the base from the top. We'll sneak our way around and we'll take out any guards if necessary. Once we reach the intel room, we'll get the information we need and then we'll head for the weapons cache. Once we're there we'll give the signal and you'll breach from behind. When we regroup, we'll store the weapons in the crates you've been given, and we will call for evac around 300 meters away from the base, and we all get out nice and clean, understood? Please don't fuck up, last thing we need is Overwatch to send a strike team against us. Do not forget Overwatch and Helix are in good terms and they won't hesitate to come and help fend us off." Ryker finished explaining the mission plan to the Talon operatives and they split up, going for their own objectives.

Ryker and Pulse climbed up to the top and then broke in through a window. "Alright, using my visor. No enemies near our position. Keep moving." Pulse said and signalled forward. They went down a few floors and stopped. "Wait. There's armed personnel in the next room. Five of them, this should handle them." Pulse said as he activated a pulse grenade and tossed it in the room. It exploded, disintegrating the guards inside, like they weren't even there. "Alright, the room's clear. Heavy unit approaching. Must have heard the blast." Pulse said. "Gotcha, i'll handle him." Ryker said and entered the room and hid just as the guard entered. When the guard came in, he was thrown to the floor and punched in the gut, but his armor absorbed some of the damage. "You're a tough bugger now are ya." Ryker said, dodging the punches the downed guard threw at him, and knocked him out with a hard hit to the face.

"Team 1. Status." Ryker growled into the comms channel. "We're almost there sir. We've taken down some guards and they haven't caused us any trouble. We'll inform you when we get there." The Talon commander said. "Understood."

The pair progressed through the floors, taking out guards and cameras as they went, until they got close to the intel room. "Hold up. The room's heavily. They must be trying to find who's disabling the security cams. I don't think a grenade will be enough to kill them all." Pulse said and Ryker nodded in understanding and shifted his hand cannons to automatic mode. "A'ight. Use one anyways. On my mark, we'll breach the room and take em out." Ryker said. "3... 2... 1... Go!"

Pulse through a grenade in the room, eliminating a group of Helix soldiers, and proceeded to kick the door down. Ryker started unloading his pistols into the soldiers, while Pulse combined his guns to form the energy cannon, cutting through the soldiers with an energy beam. One of them tried to charge Ryker but he quickly sidestepped and punched him in the gut, then threw him at Pulse who hit him across the jaw, knocking him out. "Wait! There's two of them left! Get them!" Ryker said when he noticed the open door, and charged out. "There they are!" Ryker said while shooting them down with his hand cannon configuration. He checked their bodies. No radios, no comms, good. "Umm, Drake? You may wanna see this, quick..." Pulse said, and Ryker quickly came back in the room. "This guy right here, he looks like a higher up." Pulse said, and Ryker examined the body. He checked the soldier's face... a communicator was strapped to his ear, and it was turned on.

"Shit! They heard the entire thing! We have to hurry up! I'm contacting Talon." Ryker said. "We're gonna need to have that air support at the ready. Helix heard us breaking in and they have probably already called for support!" Ryker said as Pulse contacted their team. "Alright, start breaching the weapons cache. Helix heard us. Start without us and try to get as many weapons as you can in those crates. We'll catch up to you." Pulse said.

Ryker logged into the database and extracted all the data he could. Some blueprints for some weapons. Scrap information from the Prometheus projects. Some locations for Overwatch watchpoints. Once he got the data and saved it, they started moving for the weapon room.

 **Meanwhile, in Watchpoint Gibraltar**

"Attention everyone. We've just received word that the Helix Germany outpost has been infiltrated by Talon. It's a small group of soldiers but it's possible that they have support at the ready. Soldier 76, Dva, Mercy, Aura, and Specter please report ASAP." Winston announced through the base speakers and the group rushed to the dropships. Winston filled them in on the details and they departed.

 **Meanwhile, in Germany**

"The crates are full sir! I've already called evac, they will arrive in a minute." The Talon commander said. "Alright, good work, let's get moving!" Ryker said, and they started heading to the evacuation point. They were 200 meters away from the dropship when an ORCA overwatch dropship flew over them. "God damn it! Now Overwatch is here!" Ryker cursed as the ORCA shot down the Talon evac ship, causing a thundering explosion. "Pulse, contact Talon right now!" Ryker shouted and Pulse quickly complied. "Okay, we're gonna need that air support right now! Our evac ship has been destroyed and we have no way out of here." Pulse said. "Affirmative, we're sending three dropships to your location with a 20 man team in each. The situation soon turned into a chaotic firefight. Helix soldiers and Overwatch began to surround the Talon agents, and Talon dropships soon arrived, providing covering fire and deploying their units before landing.

"Alright, Aura, go and take on the Talon elite. We haven't seen him yet, so we don't know how skilled he is, but you should be able to take him. If you can't, them call for Mercy. Specter, take on Ryker, he's the one with the skull mask. Try isolating them so he can't get help from the other agents. Dva, Mercy, you're with me. We'll take on the main Talon force and help Helix, but if you see that anyone else is in trouble, don't hesitate to leave for a bit to help them. Now go!" Soldier 76 ordered and everyone soon complied. Soldier, Dva and Mercy began firing at the Talon grunts. Soldier fired a helix rocket at the crowd, taking out many Talon agents. Dva ate up incoming fire with her defense matrix, protecting the soldiers and giving them the edge in battle. Mercy flew around from place to place, making sure everyone was safe and healing up the wounded. Aura soon flew off towards the Talon elites.

"Wait a minute, what's that glow sti-" Pulse spoke up, but was unable to finish his sentence as Aura tackled him and carried him off away from the fight. Specter cloaked and approached Ryker, and was about to backstab him, but Ryker turned around just in time and kneed him in the chest, uncloaking him and sending him back. "Gotta thank the augmented reflexes for that one."

Aura and Pulse fought away from the firefight. Aura tried punching him, but found that Pulse dodged his punch, getting uppercutted instead. "Ouch! That was uncalled for!" Aura snarked. "Are you actually this inmature?" Pulse said in return, bringing out his dual pistols, forcing Aura into cover.

 _How, do I get outta here, he's just pinning me down._

As soon as he heard that Pulse stopped firing, he sprung up from cover, sending a charged energy blast at the Talon agent's location. Pulse however, rolled into cover just in time. "Agh, fuck it." Aura said and began flying at Pulse, only to be met by an energy cannon when he turned the corner. "That was close, I gotta give it to ya."

On the other side of the firefight, Ryker and Specter fought. Specter tried with everything he had, but found that Ryker's augmentations always put him on the disadvantage. "Hah! No matter how many toys you have you still can't beat an old man in some good old hand to hand combat." Ryker taunted. Specter cloaked and pulled out his taser, uncloaking just a few meters away from the Talon agent.

He tased the older man, but his armor only kept him stunned for a few seconds. Specter took this as a chance to attack and grappled Ryker's chest, pulling him close and pulling his head down unto his knee, cracking part of the mask. "Alright, that was actually pretty good." Ryker said, which annoyed the younger man. "Shut up." Specter said as he lobbed a throwing knife at Ryker, landing it right in his chest, damaging the nanosuit. He tried following up with a punch to the head, but Ryker blocked it and grabbed his left arm, twisting it and then hitting it, hard, fracturing the bone and the armor, gaining a muffled scream from the vigilante. After that, he punched him down unto the ground and kept hitting him in the face. "Agh, enough!" Specter shouted in anger as he activated his right light blade, leaving a gash in the older man's chest, tearing right through the suit, causing him to back off.

The Talon force was starting to be pushed back, as their numbers started to slowly decrease. "Sir, we're retreating. If we stay here, we'll only lose more men. We got what we came for." The Talon commander spoke. "Affirmative. We'll catch up to you in a bit." Ryker replied.

"Oh no you don't." Specter said as he cloaked and began hitting the Talon agent with his right arm and legs. Ryker predicted Specter's moves and slashed at him with his tac-knife, failing a few times, but eventually landing it, leaving a cut in his chest and right arm, and uncloaking the vigilante. He pulled out his hand cannons, and shot twice, hitting Specter in the chest twice, causing him to fall down with two gaping holes in his armor. _Agh, I, I c-can't keep going._ Specter thought between forced breathing. He was losing blood, and quick. "You know, I could just kill you right now. It would be as easy as aiming at your head and pulling the trigger, but it looks like I'm out of rounds and in a hurry. At this rate you might bleed out. I'll admit though, you did pretty good, formidable opponent. You landed some pretty good hits, and if you only did better, you could have, agh, killed me. It'll probably take a while for me to heal all this." Ryker said and began walking away to his dropship. "Guys, I'm really hurt, I'm gonna need some help, agh cough cough, over here." Specter said in a low tone, almost whispering because of the pain. Mercy soon found her way to him. "Don't worry, I'm here. You'll live." Mercy said in the sweetest tone possible and tried to keep her warm appearance.

The fight between Pulse and Aura still went on. Even with his increased strength, Pulse kept hitting Aura, and boy he hit hard. The fight cycled from hand to hand combat to ranged combat, and both had been injured a good deal throughout. Now Pulse had his energy cannon ready again and began firing at Aura, forcing him into cover again.

"Oh god dammit! I'm fed up with this bullshit!" Aura said, getting out of cover and slamming his fist on the ground, hard. The impact put Pulse off balance and knocked him down. "Ouch! My fist!" Aura said but rushed at Pulse's location and pried the hand cannon of of him, tossing it away a few meters. Before he could land the blow, Pulse rolled away from his punch and reached for his weapon, trying to fire it in rail gun mode, but barely missing the shot. Aura put him down to the floor once again and started beating him, landing various hits in his chest and face.

Pulse tried blocking and punching back, but Aura was determined to keep going, ignoring the pain, and due to his increased strength, Pulse found his blocking efforts were useless. Aura punched his helmet, slowly starting to fracture it, anger taking over him as he kept beating the Talon agent down.

On the third hit, the helmet fractured completely, revealing a young face, someone much like Nathan, but his face was bloodied and bruised. That moment, Aura froze and stopped punching completely. A pale color took over his face. "A- Anthony?" Nate said with a low voice, with an expression of complete shock. Pulse also froze, his expression of surprise and shock as well, but it got completely replaced with anger and annoyance.

"Nice try..." Anthony growled, jamming a knife into Nathan's stomach. "Anthony... why..." Nate said weakly as blood started to spurt out of him more and more and he became even more pale, and weak. "Say goodnight." Anthony said, and Nathan looked down at his stomach, finding that the energy cannon was aimed right at him.

 **BANG**

The shot echoed through the battlefield, and a large green blast erupted from the cannon, piercing right through Nathan's body and sending him flying back, crashing into the walls of the base with such a force that the walls broke.

"Pulse, where the hell are you!? You're the only one missing." Ryker asked through the comms. "Right, I'm on my way. An Overwatch agent was giving me trouble, but I shot him down. I lost visual so I cannot confirm if he's still alive, but I don't think he made it." Pulse said.

"Nice job kid! Now get here quick! We're going home." Ryker congratulated.

The Talon dropships flew off and succesfully escaped. "Wait, where's Nate?" Hana asked, and Mercy soon started to panic. "Oh god oh god. Scheisse!" Mercy said, cursing in her mother tongue. "Wait, I'm getting something, it's really weak but I can't track it." Mercy said, even more panicked.

" **Cough cough.** Guys, I'm hur-" Nate said, but only began coughing up more blood.

"I'm **cough** lo-losing blood, quickly." His voice now only a whisper.

"I don't, agh, think I'll, make it..."

"Please, if you can hear me-" And then the signal cut off.


	23. Treatment and Betrayal

**Aura's POV**

I try opening my eyes, but I cant. With some effort, I manage to wake up. I wish I didn't, because as soon as I did I started to feel extreme pain through my entire body. What happened? How did this happen? Where am I? Then it all started to come back to me; Talon, the fight, Anthony... I tried avoiding the thought. I looked at myself. Blood, heavy injuries all over me, a large injury in my chest.

How am I even alive? I can feel myself losing more and more blood by the second. I need to get help, but I can barely move. I tried using my communicator, but it didn't work, there was no signal. As it was, I couldn't communicate with anyone in my team, and I couldn't speak or call for help.

I feel weaker and weaker, as I lose more blood. It all fades to black.

 **3rd person, no particular POV**

It's been 10 minutes since the end of the fight, and since Nate's last message was heard. Helix's soldiers had volunteered to split up and search. The Overwatch strike team headed for where they had last seen him. "Mein gott. Scheisse! What if he's hurt? What if he's dead? What if we're too late!?" Mercy panicked, her ever loving and warm personality getting the best of her. "Angela, try to calm down. He's strong, he can survive. I'm sure we can get there on time." Morrison said, trying to get the medic to calm down.

"Wait, what's over there?" Hana said, pointing at the environmental damage and then a large hole in the nearby wall of the Helix base. "Let's go check it out." Mercy said, but what they saw next broke her heart. Nathan lay on the floor, surrounded by rubble, with a knife stuck to his stomach and a large wound in his chest. Multiple serious bruises and cuts were found all over his body, as well as some burn marks from a pulse-based weapon. His right arm was visibly damaged, and his back was heavily injured. He had fortunately passed out, but he kept losing blood at a steady rate, adding to the already-large blood pool under him.

"Oh my god! Please tell me we're not to late. Jack, call the other search teams. Tell them to bring medics with them!" Mercy commanded and Jack complied, getting on the comms channel as quickly as possible. Mercy gripped her cadeceus staff and began stabilizing Nathan. "I'm afraid my staff won't be enough to heal him. This was designed to heal injuries, but not as serious as these. The injury in his chest seems like something caused by a large high powered energy weapon, powerful enough to take out small armored vehicles. How he survived this is beyond me, pure luck I'd say, but the nanotech should keep his condition from getting any worse, and repair some of the minor bruises and burns." The Helix search teams didn't take long to arrive, and like ordered, brought 3 medics and a small medical moving bed. Nate was placed on the bed and started to be carried away to the Overwatch dropship.

The medics volunteered to stay with Overwatch until his condition improved. Some time after the dropship departed, Nathan began to open his eyes again.

"Agh, what's up with this light." Nate complained weakly as he woke up and bright light made his way into his eyes.

"Nate! You're awake! Avoid moving unless you really need to. You lost a lot of blood and it's best if you don't move at all. We removed the knife on your stomach; we've bandaged you up and I've managed to repair some of your burns, bruises and cuts, but there are still many left. You broke a bone on your right arm and a rib, but our technology should hopefully repair those within in a few days, or a week at most." Mercy explained in a calm but slightly agitated voice.

"I... see... Thanks Angela." Nate said.

After a few hours, the team arrived at the Watchpoint and headed straight for the med-bay. The medical team started setting up what they needed and eventually the rest of the team left for debriefing.

"Alright. Many of your injuries are far more serious than my staff is designed to heal heal, so we won't be using it for your treatment. You will be receiving constant streams of healing nanobots every 4 hours, and painkillers as well as healing accelerant shots twice every day, which should make it much easier for the nanobots to heal you. This will hopefully fix all of your bruises and your burns, and after that, your bones and back. We will have to manually treat your injuries in your stomach and chest as they are much bigger than all the others, so they'll require special attention. We will also keep pumping blood into you once every day until there is no need to do it. That's really all you have to know for your treatment, unless you wanna hear the 'professional and scientific' explanation." Mercy explained while the other doctors worked on the medicine in the background.

"No thanks doc, I think I'm good." Nate said, chuckling a little. "Also, Alex will be keeping you company for a few days. He got hurt too but thankfully it wasn't as bad as what happened to you. And, there's one thing I wanna know. How did this happen to you. I've seen you fight and you're very good at it. How did you end up... like this? I would understand if you get hurt, it happens, but for you to be this bad, it worries me. Did something happen? I won't tell anyone about it." Mercy said, and Nate sighed in hesitation, but eventually decided to speak up.

"I had him. I had gained the advantage and I had him under me. I kept punching him, trying to knock him out, and... his helmet broke. I would have kept going but... when I saw who it was behind the mask, I froze, I just got confused and I couldn't keep going. He took the advantage and stabbed me, and then shot me with his energy cannon thing... I, don't know, I shouldn't have stopped like that, it was my fault." Nate said. "Don't do that to yourself, it's not your fault. But, who was he?" Mercy asked.

"It was... Anthony... My best friend ever since we were kids. We used to do lots of things together, we always used to hang out and play videogames or eat or have fun together. Out of all my friends, he was the most important to me, we had a bond that I shared with none of my other friends, it was special. He never ever did anything to hurt me and was always there to cheer me up when things got rough, and... he was always a great person. But when I saw him, hurt and bloodied and with hatred in his eyes I just... I never thought that it would ever be this way. I, I need some time to think." Nate said, trying to explain as best as he could. It was clear that it was hard for him to talk about it. "Oh, I'm... so sorry to hear that. I hope that he's still in there, maybe he didn't want to join Talon. I'm sure that deep down he's still the same person you knew." Mercy said, trying to reassure him. "Well, get some rest. Your treatment will start in a few hours, so sleep for a bit if you can, and take these. They should let you ignore the pain for a while so you can rest." Mercy said, handing him a pair of painkiller pills.

"Thanks, guess we'll talk later." Nate said as Mercy exited the room. He took the pills and headed to sleep, and for the first time in the past hours, he felt calm.

 **So yeah sort of a filler type of chapter. This chapter was meant to be longer but I just decided to upload this part now to let you guys know what happened with Aura and what the whole deal with Pulse/Anthony was. Part two of this chapter might be up in a few days and will pick up where this left, maybe from Pulse's perspective.**


	24. Fire and lightning

"Running test 15…" The Talon scientist stated. Soon, the test subjects were injected a dose of the enhancement serum. They squirmed and tugged in pain, muffled screams being heard through the glass of the test tubes. Then, the screaming ceased and the test subjects relaxed again, as they had for the past tests, but this time, one of them gave out, and the body went limp as he died. Nine test subjects left.

"Damn. Running test 16…" The bodies were injected once again, and they were monitored for results. This time, two of them died.

The following tests were carried out as ordered, but with each test, more and more of them died; up until the last test, only three out of ten had survived the chemicals.

"Alright, last one… Running test 20…" The remaining test subjects were injected with the final dose of the serum. Another one died, and the last two remained.

"Status?" Reaper asked as he entered the room. "We just carried out the last test sir. Only two of them survived. We are monitoring their bodies and changes are starting to appear, so it's safe to say the serum is taking its toll."

"Only two survived? The chemicals were deadlier than we thought. So far all tries for the super soldier enhancement program have gone wrong, we'll need to think of something else, something safer, more applicable, at least something that doesn't kill our forces when we use it. Who were the survivors?" Reaper said.

"An Englishman called Harrison Connors. He's branded an outlaw for various robberies in England. And David Williams, an African-American citizen. What do we do with them?" The scientist asked.

"Do as procedure instructed. Have them reconditioned at the lab and inducted into the Talon forces. It is better than scrapping all your work now is it?" Reaper said coldly and left the room.

The scientists took the unconscious Harry and David and took them to the labs. Upon entering Widowmaker was in the room, receiving some treatment from a talon scientist to keep her heartrate low. "Who are they?" Widowmaker asked coldly. "J-just the survivors of our recent project. W-we were instructed to have them reconditioned." The scientist replied nervously. Hearing this, the scientists of the reconditioning room approached. "We'll take it from here. You may leave."

 ***Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Talon base***

Pulse sat down in a pipe in the Talon headquarters. He went over the battle that had taken toll a few days back, when he fought Aura and defeated him. He thought of the way he went pale when he broke his helmet, and how he uttered his name in disbelief before getting stabbed and shot. Now that he thought about it, he did seem familiar. His thin mask (It looks a bit like nightwings mask that covers his eyes and part of the nose. I know it was described differently in the first few chapters but I like it better this way) allowed some facial features to be distinguished. His voice was familiar too, but he couldn't quite place it. Now, he worried that Aura might have been someone he cared about, and in return, someone that cared about him. He worried even more when he thought of the possibility that he might have killed him, after all, it wasn't just anyone that would have known his name and be so in shock about it. He shook off his thoughts, clearing his mind and avoiding it, at least for now. He never stopped himself from killing when it was necessary, so why should he stop then. He was a different man than who he was 10 months ago, and the last thing he needed or wanted was for him to be reconditioned and his memories taken away because he was being inefficient. No thank you.

"Ey kid, I can almost hear you over thinking from down here." Ryker said, noticing him sitting up in a pipe. He effortlessly climbed up and sat next to him. "What's botherin' ya?" The man in his 40s said. "It's nothing. I've just been going over the mission from a few days ago. I just remember that when I was fighting Aura and he broke my helmet, he recognized me. He stopped fighting me, and he spoke like he was saddened and surprised. Like he cared about me and knew me for a long time. Of course I didn't let that bother me and I shot him, as long as it meant completing the mission. But now that I think about it, I'm worried that I might have killed someone close to me." Pulse said.

"Well kid, I-" Ryker spoke up, but was interrupted. "No, I shouldn't let my thoughts get in the way. The mission comes first, and he was in the way. I never stopped myself when it was necessary, and I won't start now." Pulse said coldly.

"Alright, that's a proffesional talking right there. Well I'll leave you to it. Got mission reports to file, paperwork to finish. I suppose if you need to talk about it i'll be there..." Ryker "I think I'll hang out with one of my friends, to get my mind off things." Pulse said. "Oh yeah? Who?" Ryker asked. "My best friend. He's called Nathan. I haven't heard from him for a while. Last I heard he moved to England because of a job offer he got thanks to me." Pulse said. "Well, have fun then. I'll be on my way." Ryker finished and jumped back down to the floor, heading for his quarters.

In that moment, the alarms started sounding. "Alert, alert. There has been a breach in the labs."

 ***At the reconditioning labs***

Harrison had suddenly woken up while the scientists experimented on him. When he saw what has happening, he was filled with rage. These were the Talon guys that captured him and experimented on them. Usually he wouldn't have tried anything given the circumstances, but now, he felt faster, stronger, more focused than before. He quickly broke his restraints and grabbed one of the scientists by the neck, choking him and slamming him down unto the metal bed he was strapped to, blood splattering unto it. The other scientists tried running, but he caught up to one of them and slammed him down unto the floor, knocking him out. When he looked up, he saw the other scientists had run out of the room, and activated the alarms. "Shit..." He thought to himself. He looked at the bed next to his. Lying in it was an african american man with short hair. He appeared to be sleeping.

 _I know that guy, he was one of the test subjects that Talon captured, like me. I suppose I should wake him._ He thought to himself as he walked over to the man. He was roughly Connors' age. "Oi. Wake up. WAKE UP!" Harrison shouted, waking up the man. "Shit! Huh, wait where am I? Who are you?" David asked. "We're currently in Talon headquarters? You mean you don't remember? We were captured and experimented on by them, with those damned serums. Were the only ones left, and we're getting out of here. You can call me Harry." He said.

"Oh crap... And how the hell do you expect to even get through the Talon soldiers?" David asked. "Well, fighting. Those serums they injected us with, they have done something to us. I feel stronger in a way, maybe... Holy shit!" Harry said as he looked at his hand and it was covered in electricity. "So THAT'S what the serums do!" Harry said, somewhat casually. "What the shit?! How'd you even do that?" David asked. "I dunno, I just did it." He replied.

David looked at his hand, and soon enough, it was engulfed in flames. "Ok what the fuck..." David said confused. He noticed the flames weren't hurting him at all. It was like he was immune, like he was in control. "It looks like the serum worked differently on you. See? I can fire lightning and you can control fire! Easily enough we'll be out of here!" Harry said quickly and ran out the room. "Come on! We haven't got all day mate!" He said, looking back at David. "Goddammit. Lets get this over with."

The two ran through the halls. "If we follow this path we should be able to get out. We'll just have to kill some bad guys first." Harry said. "Ironic you say bad guys, considering you're a criminal." David said, making Harry roll his eyes. "Yeah yeah whatever let's get out of here." Harry said.

A small team of five talon soldiers walked into the halls. "There they are! Shoot them!" The talon soldiers said, but they were quickly zapped to death by Harry. "And that's how you do it! You try it." Harry said looking at David. He extended his arms and focused. Soon a stream of fire launched out of his hands. He tried doing other things and he engulfed himself in fire like the human torch. "Oh man! I can get used to this!" David said, running at another group of talon goons. Using flames to jump into the air, coming down unto the squad and scorching them.

The two managed to proceed through the halls, taking down teams of soldiers with their newfound powers. "Jeez how are you so fast!?" David asked. "Well, surely the electric powers have something to do with it." Harry answered. "Over there! That's the main exit. It will likely be guarded so get ready to fight. And there might be troops on the outside. As soon as we get out. We'll leg it and get as far away as possible." Harry explained his plan. "But what about all the troops outside." David asked. "Look, the situation is already against us. It's best to just with what we got. It's the best chance we have to get out of this mess. Besides, this base is a bit secluded so we can lose them if we get far away." Harry said, and David simply nodded. They both ran for the exit, taking out more soldiers that were guarding the area.

"Where do you think you're going." Pulse said, shooting the door, causing it to start closing. He then shot Harry in the legs, incapacitating him. "Just get outta here! Quickly!" Harry said. "You know, for someone that's supposed to be a criminal, you're not too bad." David said. "Yeah yeah just cut the sap and go! Before it's too late!" Harry said and David ran out. Pulse tried shooting him but the doors had already closed, preventing the shots from getting through. David soon managed to avoid some of the troops, and lost them, hiding in the trees and the snow. He hadn't known Harry a lot, but he hoped Talon didn't do anything too bad to him.

"My scans do not detect him. He's out of range, he got away. However, I still managed to prevent the other from escaping." Pulse said to Reaper. "Better than nothing. Bring him in."

Harry slowly opened his eyes. He was in a dark room, tied to a chair. Soon a light hit his face and he saw Reaper sitting in front of him. He looked behind him to see Widowmaker, Pulse, Ryker and Sombra staring coldly at him, making sure he didn't try anything. "Alright, what do you want..." Harry asked. "Do you know how much we invested in the project that gave you your abilities. Of course, it went wrong, with only you and the other being the survivors. However, it wasn't a complete failure, judging at how formidable of an opponent you were to our forces. I will tell you this. You will fight for us, or there will be consequences." Reaper said, preferring to at least keep him as an agent instead of a complete waste of resources.

Harry swallowed nervously, analyzing the seriousness of the situation. Then he looked back to his previous life. He lived as an outlaw, a criminal. If he joined them, not much would be different. Maybe he would even live more comfortably. He liked the idea of working for Talon actually, but he wanted compensation for what they did to him.

"Alright, i'll work for you, but I know that when you say that i'll work for you you actually mean you'll brainwash me so I don't try anything. So here's the deal, I'll work for you, but you leave me and my memories alone. I'm not gonna end up like smurfette back there." Harry said, looking at Widowmaker, who simply stared back at him in annoyance. "Also, I want compensation for all the pain you caused me with those damn experiments. Assure me that, and I'll work for you." Harry said. "Deal." Reaper said flatly and waited to see if Harrison had anything else left to say. "Oh and get me a cool outfit like theirs'." Harry demanded. "Fine. As for all of you, you are dismissed. I'll take it from here." Reaper said, and the agents left the room.

"I'll take care of all the arrangements. You will be fully inducted into Talon within the next few days."

 ***At Watchpoint Gibraltar***

Nathan sat in the medical bay. He was getting better but his injury was still present and it would still take some time for him to be combat ready again. His phone took his attention when he noticed he had received a notification. It was a message from Anthony.

 **Dun dun dun. What will happen when the two hang out? Well anyways. I really apologize for the immense delay for this update. I really have no excuse. I'm really sorry to those that like the story. I suppose I feel uninspired as of late. But regardless, I promised I wouldn't leave this story without giving it a proper end, and I plan to uphold that promise, no matter how long it takes me.**

 **Also, remember that whole super soldier attempt 2.0 that I mentioned a few chapters back? Well its here! So two new OCs. There's Harrison Connors, who has received electric-based powers, and David Williams, who has received fire based powers. They will be referred to as Volt and Smoke respectively in their next appearance. Volt will be a major Talon operative/villain and David's fate shall remain uncertain for now. Just know he managed to escape Talon's grasp. What will he do with his powers? That is yet to be seen. As for the story, I think I already know how it will end. I might add a few more OCs because** **I do have a few more but im not sure if I should. I believe I will just continue with the main story arc.**


	25. An undercover meeting

It was the afternoon in Watchpoint: Gibraltar, and an ORCA dropship was landing in the hangars. Out of it came Winston and Symmetra. "I'm glad you decided to join us Satya! Welcome to Watchpoint: Gibraltar!" Winston said excitedly. "I am glad too. It is such an honor to be here. I just can't believe I worked for them for so long and believed everything they said. I'm better off without them." Symmetra said, with a bit of remorse. "Ah don't worry about that. I'll get everything sorted out. For now, just take a look around and meet some of the agents! I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you!" Winston said. Symmetra nodded and decided to walk around the base.

Indeed, everyone she meet greeted her with open arms. That was until she met a particular musician. "You actually dare to join us!? How can you even try to walk in here after all you have done!?" Lucio said angrily upon recognizing the woman. "Calm down! I'm not with them anymore. I assure you. I may have disagreed with you in the past but now I realized that they were wrong." Symmetra said, still not quite convincing her rival. "Doesn't change the fact that Vishkar has ruined so many cities." Lucio said, now with a calmer tone, but still pissed off. "I... I understand your anger and I know what Vishkar has done. I deeply regret ever working with them, but, if you could find it in you to forgive me, I promise i'll do my best to redeem my actions." Symmetra said. After some thinking Lucio finally spoke up. "Fine. Let's start over then. I'm Lucio Correia." Lucio said, extending his arm. "And I'm Satya Vaswani. Pleasure to meet you." Symmetra said, taking Lucio's hand and giving him a handshake.

 ***Meanwhile, at the med bay***

Nathan picked up his phone to see that Anthony had messaged him. The message read 'Hey man! It's been a while. I know you've been at England recently and I am spending some time there, so I thought it would be nice to see ya. Wanna hang out at my place in King's Row?' Nathan processed what he had just read. So Anthony still thought he lived in England. And he had an apartment in King's Row? Probably a Talon safehouse he was using as an excuse. The fact that he had wanted to meet him all of a sudden was a bit strange, even suspicious. But then again, he probably didn't know who Aura was behind the mask. He was still upset about what had happened some days back, but if Anthony genuinely wanted to hang out, then it was a good opportunity to get something out of him, and maybe even see if the friend he knew for so long was still there.

'Sure! That would be great. Let me see if I can make some space tomorrow.' Nathan texted back. His injury was going to be an issue, but maybe he could cover himself up so it wasn't visible. Also, getting past Angela would be a problem, who would probably insist he stayed.

'Awesome! So, let me know if you can and I suppose we can order pizza and watch a movie?' Anthony texted back.

'Sounds good. Talk to you later.' Nathan texted, and turned off his phone.

Now, what was he going to say to Angela... And as soon as he thought that the blonde medic walked into the room. "Heeeyyy Angela. Guess what? Anthony texted me and he wants to hang out!" Nathan said, realizing how ridiculous he was sounding. "No, no, no. No way! You still have to recover, and not to mention that we can't be sure about him yet. What if it's a trap and he knows who you are?" Angela said worriedly. "Come on, please? If anything it's a good chance to get some answers. And if it's a trap, I'll shoot him myself." Nathan said bluntly.

Angela was a bit taken aback by the statement, but spoke up again. "Yes, but what about your injury? You know it's not fully healed yet. And how do you even plan to get answers from him without revealing who Aura is?" Angela said. "Come on, you know I'm smarter than that. I'll ask questions and see how he reacts to them. Come on can I go?" Nathan said, sounding like a little kid asking his mother if he could have friends over. "Fine then. I suppose I can't stop you. I'll arrange a dropship for tomorrow, I'd prefer it if you don't fly all the way to England, especially in your current condition.

Also, take these tomorrow morning; they'll help you ignore the pain and help you heal a bit quicker. And make sure you cover up so you don't look suspicious. And, please, try not to get into trouble, you seem to have a thing for trouble..." Angela said, reaching for a drawer and taking out some pills, handing them over to her patient. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Nathan said; he picked up his phone once again and texted Anthony, saying he would be able to make it.

 ***Time skip, the next day***

Nathan stepped unto the dropship. He had already taken the pills Angela had given him, which were already taking their toll. He had dressed with a white t shirt, jeans and a black long sleeve sweater to cover up his injuries and bandages. Before the dropship door closed, he heard Angela speak behind him. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked worriedly. Nathan said. "Yes, I am. It is my chance to get something out of him, and maybe, it could be a way I can relive the old days, back when I wasn't a mutant super soldier and he wasn't a talon operative." He said with a hint of sadness, and closed the dropship's door after waving goodbye. "Athena, you know your course?" Nathan asked. "Yes, my destination has already been set since yesterday. Ready for takeoff?" The AI asked in return. "Yeah, let's go."

 ***A few hours later***

Nathan arrived at Anthony's "apartment", and knocked on the door. It wasn't long before the door opened and revealed his childhood friend, with short, dark brown hair and eyes. He was slightly bruised along his face, and Nathan was pretty sure there were other bruises behind his clothing. "Hey man! Long time no see. Come in." Anthony said cheerfully, pulling Nathan into a tight hug, which he returned. "Agh... dude you're crushing me." Anthony whispered, causing Nathan to quickly let go, uttering a quick sorry.

"Alright so I already ordered the pizza, so it should be here any moment now, oh and I have the TV ready in case you wanna watch a movie. You want a beer?" Anthony asked as he looked at the fridge, to which Nathan nodded. Anthony sat down in the couch next to his friend and relaxed. Time for the question game to begin. "Jeez whats up with all the bruises?" Nathan asked, pointing to the purple marks around his friend's face. Anthony sat there for a second, thinking quickly. Surely enough he had an answer. "Oh its nothing, just some entitled drunk at the pub who decided to start a fight last night. I really don't know why." Anthony said, he wasn't exactly lying, as he did get in a fight the night before, but he quickly ended it and the bruises were indeed Aura's doing.

"Oh, and by the way, how come you own an apartment in England?" Nathan asked again. "I don't own it, I just rented it since I'll be here for a few days. It was quite cheap so I figured I'd take advantage of the deal." Anthony said, causing Nathan to internally roll his eyes. Their conversation was interrupted when the pizza arrived. Anthony got up and payed, and came back with a box of pizza, plopping it on the table.

"Hey, did you hear the news? Talon attacked Helix in Germany. There was this Pulse guy, according to the newswire he's new to the scene, and also that he managed to take down one of the Overwatch agents. Apparently they ran off with a bunch of weapons and intel. I fucking hate Talon so much, they're such assholes and so entitled too. They just attack wherever they please and kill hundreds of innocent bystanders just for the sake of power and fear. I wish I could do something about it. You heard about this?" Nathan said, finishing his rant. Anthony reflected on what Nathan had said for a moment and spoke up.

"Really? Didn't see it. That's pretty horrible though." Anthony said. "No way you didn't see it, the news was flooded with it a few days ago you donut." Nathan said jokingly. "Well I guess I don't keep up with the news then, anyways, there was a party a few days back with our friends, it was amazing. Thomas and Ron got super drunk and made a fool out of themselves. Oh oh and Albert basically ate an entire large pizza on his own, I was sure he would get food poisoning. Kind of a shame you couldn't go, your job keeping ya busy?" Anthony asked. "Oh you wouldn't believe. It pays really, REALLY well but it's just so time consuming, hopefully I'll get a break or something. Yeah I really wanted to go, especially considering how easy travel actually is these days but I couldn't find the time for it." Nathan said. "Though actually, I'm kinda glad that you didn't go because you probably would have eaten the entire pizza instead you foodie." Anthony teased. "Shut the fuck up you dumbass." Nathan said in return. The pair kept talking about the recent events and Nathan kept asking questions every now and then. Anthony seemed to be answering quite well to the Talon-related questions, but his body language didn't lie, and with every questions his body would briefly go stiff or his eyes would widen because he knew exactly what Nathan was talking about, before coming up with a believable response.

Eventually they finished their pizza and settled for watching a bunch of really old Marvel super hero movies from way back. They were actually a lot better than the modern reboots. Then, they played against each other in some fighting and shooter games for the following hours (In which Nathan totally crushed him because he was basically a videogame addict). It really reminded Nathan of the old days, back when they were kids, which made him feel warm and happy, but of course he realized who he was really sitting next to. "Oh man it's nighttime already? Damn." Nathan said. "Hey, the night's still young though, wanna head down to the pub for a few drinks?" Anthony suggested. Nathan laughed. "Sure, sure we'll go get some drinks you drunk ass." He teased. "Asshole."

The two arrived at the pub and sat down, ordering their drinks. "Ah, Anthony was it? I remember you from yesterday, try not to get in a fist fight this time?" The Bartender joked and handed the two their drinks. Nathan raised his brows in surprise as his friend hadn't actually lied about that one. Though with how much hand-to-hand combat experience he had, Nathan doubted some drunkard was the reason behind his bruises. Soon the calm was interrupted when the same drunk from last night walked into the bar, immediately recognizing Anthony from the night before. He was pretty buff, bald and had a long beard, and was at least one head and a half taller than Nathan. Jeez, like something out of a motorcycle gang. Of course, the guy was pretty mad and wanted revenge. "Hey you! How about a rematch you sissy." The man said. "Oh boy that the guy from last night?" Nathan said, unimpressed. "Yep..."

Nathan got up and started walking towards the man. "Alright bud, if you wanna get to him, you gotta go through me." Nathan said, dead serious. "Ha! A sissy like you standing a chance against me. Don't make me laugh." The drunk man said in return. "Sooo you gonna fight or just stand there calling me names." Nathan said with his arms crossed. The man stopped laughing and sent a punch at the shorter man, but Nathan easily caught his hand and started to slowly crush it, causing the man to get on his knees and start whimpering. Nathan then kneed him in the face, knocking the man out. "So much for tough guy eh?" Nathan said and returned to his seat.

"Holy shit man, you took him down in like, two seconds." Anthony said, impressed. "I uh, do karate?" Nathan said, noticing maybe he displayed too much strength. "Let's get outta here, never really liked pubs to begin with." Nathan grunted, paying the bartender and getting up, signaling for Anthony to follow him.

When they got out, a dropship was heard. It was pitch black with red tinted windows. He could recognize that design anywhere, Talon. The two immediately rushed for cover. "Fucking great, a talon terror attack. What a fantastic way to end the day." Nathan said, both angry and annoyed. A group of talon goons rappelled out of the dropship and started shooting up the place, causing everyone to get down to the floor. _Shit, what do I do..._ Nathan thought to himself. Fighting off the talon forces would immediately reveal his identity to Anthony, and possibly even other witnesses and even Talon themselves, and not only that, but the medicine's effects were starting to wear off.

He was faced with a choice. Fight Talon but reveal his identity, or do nothing and put everyone around him in danger and leave the citizens at the mercy of Talon. "Ah, fuck this..." Nathan grunted, and got out of cover. "Nathan, what the fuck are you thinking!" Anthony shouted, trying to get his attention. Nathan simply began walking at the Talon forces. Using his strength, he ripped out a car door and used it as a shield to protect himself against incoming fire. "What the..." Anthony whispered, surprised at what had just happened.

Nathan's hand became engulfed with blue energy and began firing at the Talon goons, taking two of them out. The remaining soldiers began firing at him, but the door thankfully was blocking the bullets. He ran up to a Talon soldier, hitting him with the car door, and grabbing another by the neck and throwing him. Then, he used his foot to kick the door, sending it flying and knocking down two more goons. Nathan flew up, firing rays of energy at the remaining soldiers, and then crashing down into another one. When his guard was down, a few agents got out of cover and fired their weapons, hitting Nathan three times in the back and twice in his right arm, before Nathan managed to get back into cover.

"Agh, motherfuckers." Nathan said, popping out of cover and silencing the goons with two blasts to the face. There were no more forces left, and Nathan collapsed unto his knees, feeling the pain from the bullets on his back and the injury on his chest. He looked up and saw yet another dropship, aiming its weapons at him. However, before it could fire, it was shot down by an ORCA dropship. The ship began hovering slightly above the scene, and Mercy, Reinhardt and Bastion jumped out. Mercy began using her staff on Nathan to prevent him from getting worse, and helped him up. Reinhardt held up his shield, looking for any more Talon forces, and Bastion transformed into a sentry and kept the area locked down.

"Mein gott. Look at you. See this is exactly what I worried about, you're always getting yourself involved in these situations." Mercy scolded him worriedly. "I couldn't just _**cough**_ stand around _**cough**_ and let Talon hurt these people, I had to do something." Nathan said weakly. "Alright we have to go, the staff will keep you stable but we have to get those bullets removed, quick." Mercy said. "No... wait. I have something else to do." Nathan said, looking back at Anthony, who stood there in disbelief. He had a somewhat guilty expression on his face. No need to pretend anymore.

Nathan flew back to him and aimed his arm at him. "Did. You. Know. About. This." Nathan asked angrily. So Nathan had been Aura all along... "Nate... I... I'm so sorry." Anthony said as he saw the blood-stained bandages through his shirt. "Oh shut up will you! Did you know this would happen!" Nathan shouted. "I didn't! I didn't. I'm just an agent. Attacks like these can happen anywhere, and if I'm not involved, then I'm not notified either. Nate, I, I didn't know it was you, if I knew I would never hav-" Anthony said, but was interrupted. "Oh if you had known it was me you wouldn't have shot me through the chest with a fucking rail gun?! Or stabbed me? Oh but if it had been anyone else its supposed to be justified? Why the fuck did you even get involved in this?!" Nathan said, still aiming his arm at Anthony. "Because Overwatch left me to die! You remember, a few months back, you were there! Back when Talon attacked New York, when Specter and Titan appeared. After you were done you just left, but Talon found me, near death, and helped me recover. They trained me and turned me into something much better than I ever was. I owe them because of that. And if I had to choose a side, I would choose Talon over your ragtag team of 'heroes'." Anthony shouted in return.

He was right, he hadn't thought that any civilians had been involved in the fight so they just left. But it still didn't justify what Anthony had done. "I'm done with this shit. You wanna be a terrorist? A murderer? Someone that only serves to instill fear into the hearts of the innocents, fine. Then be that. But you are coming with us." Nathan said and grabbed Anthony and put him on the dropship. Reinhardt grabbed some cuffs and put them on the Talon agent. Needless to say the flight back to the base was awkward for everyone on board, but before they arrived, they checked the Talon elite for any sort of device.

They managed to get a hold of a tracker, and a communicator, which were promptly burned into nothing by Aura. The group arrived at Watchpoint: Gibraltar, and got off the ship. "So Gibraltar is where you were hiding out? Talon came here before I joined. They thought that Winston had deserted the base after the raid." Anthony said. "Well, good luck communicating that to your terrorist buddies." Nathan said in return. Anthony was put in a cell and left there for interrogation.

 ***Meanwhile, at Talon headquarters***

"Sir, you called for me?" Sombra asked at the mysterious man. "Yes, Sombra. A few hours ago, Pulse's tracker and communication device were destroyed. I was informed that Aura unexpectedly intervened during our terror attack in England. I also understand Pulse was present in England at the time, undercover as a citizen. Supposedly he was spending some free time with an old friend of his, which turned out to be Aura himself. I believe he has been taken prisoner by Overwatch. If they manage to interrogate him and get information of of him it could be fatal for us. We managed to track the approximate path of the tracker before it was destroyed, and it appears Watchpoint: Gibraltar is the most likely point of residence for Overwatch's agents. I want you to take his equipment and rescue him from Overwatch's prison cells. I believe your technology and hacking skills will be of most importance when infiltrating the base. You may use Pulse's x-ray equipment during his rescue, and I want both of you to get out undetected. You will be transported in our newest stealth jet which should be able to bypass the base's detection systems and AI. I also have an, additional task, for Pulse, but that shall be given to him upon his retrieval. You are to leave tomorrow, and don't fail." The voice of Talon's leader said, with a thick russian accent to it. "Sera mi placer, jefe." Sombra said as she walked out of the room.

 **Sera mi placer, jefe = It will be my pleasure, boss. Alright so a new OC kinda introduced. I will go more in depth on him later on but basically he's the head of Talon and is Russian for some reason, because Russians are ALWAYS evil cough memes cough. Also yeah a bit of a filler I guess but I thought it would be cool to explore the life of an Overwatch agent in a more, casual, setting. Also, as for the guys like Thomas, Ron, Albert etc they are just some of Nathan's friends but they will not be important or will appear on the story, just mentioned because Nathan has a social life ok? Also I finally introduced Symmetra! I felt it was about time considering I said that she had been fired from Vishkar during the new year chapter, so I figured why not do it now. Sorry for the delay as always and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	26. Prison Break

**Alright so recently Doomfist was officially added into the game. I want to clarify a few things. A while ago, when I first introduced Drake Ryker, I said there was a fight between Winston and Doomfist, and that Doomfist (The Scourge) died in the event. I was unaware that the successor had already been in Talon for a while now, and that it was the successor that fought Winston, instead of the Scourge. I also thought the scourge died in a fight, but it was revealed that the successor in fact killed him, so that already screws up the timeline of this fic a bit. So what I want to say is, in terms of this fics "lore", it was thought that the scourge died in the fight that takes place during Ryker's flashback by the public, however the Scourge actually escaped and remained underground for the following months, until he died at the hands of the successor in training, rather than dying at the hands of Overwatch like it was stated in the fic. I'm just saying this so there isn't a big plot hole in the story in that regard. I do plan on having Akande have a larger role in the story for the following chapters, but I don't want to write a full chapter about his backstory and all since we already know that. And yes, I'm aware that there is a "council" of which Reaper, Doomfist and that Maximillian guy are a part of, but the "president" or head of the council will be the mysterious man, of who I will expand on soon. On with the story!**

Sombra boarded the Talon stealth jet, and took off. She checked to make sure that all her gear was working properly, and checked that all of Pulse's gear was in her bag like it was supposed to be. She detached Pulse's infrared visor from the rest of the helmet and put it on, zipping the bag shut. She was a bit tired of doing Talon's dirty work, but if anything made her seem more believable and trustworthy, then she would do it. A few, boring hours passed, but the ship eventually approached the watchpoint and cloaked itself and set off the jammers, preventing the cameras or AI to detect it. As soon as the ship got close, Sombra hopped off and the ship left her, leaving her to her own devices. She quickly cloaked and started running through the base. Thankfully most of the agents were asleep at this time of the night, however, there were some that she would have to watch out for. She reached the main database, and a few hacks revealed the layout of the base, revealing the locations of the prison and quarters. She cloaked once again and ran out the room just as Winston walked in, thankfully not detecting her.

"Phew, that was close..." Sombra thought to herself, making a mental note to be more careful. She continued her sprint through the base, occasionally stopping to let her cloaking technology recharge. She approached the quarters, using Pulse's infrared visor to scan the area. Most people were in their rooms, however a few groups were outside in the nearby rooms. Sombra saw what appeared to be Torbjorn, McCree, and Reinhardt having a drinking contest; she also saw the Shimada brothers in the living room, and Bastion and the surviving Prometheus unit outside. Nothing she couldn't sneak past.

She quietly entered the living room, sneaking past the Shimada's, and then sneaking past the drinking trio in the next room. Now, she just needed to go straight through the hallway to reach the prison cells. However, before she could walk in, she detected two other figures next to Pulse. After looking at the silhouettes, she determined that the two figures were Mercy and Aura. The two seemed to be arguing while Mercy just watched with a sorry expression on her face.

Sombra had to wait out until the two left the room, otherwise she would be detected. After a few minutes of waiting, the door to the prison cells opened, and the two Overwatch agents walked past a hidden Sombra, who promptly entered the room before the door shut. She hacked the camera behind her to avoid being seen, and approached the prison cell. In it, was a rather sad Talon agent. Upon seeing Sombra, Pulse jumped in surprise and scrambled. "Sombra?! What the hell are you doing here!" Pulse said. "Well I'm breaking you out, tonto." Sombra said unamused.

"And I brought you your gear, suit up, we're getting out of here, UNdetected, alright?" Sombra said with a serious tone to her voice, which was rather unlike her. "Jeez, why so serious? Alright alright, and are you wearing my visor?" Pulse asked. "Yeah, it made the whole breaking in part a bit easier. Not like it wasn't easy already. But getting back out is gonna be the hard part, since you can't cloak and all." Sombra replied. "Shit, you're right. Well, the sooner we start the sooner we get out of here." Pulse said, now wearing his full combat gear. "Oh, and I just remembered something. I was supposed to notify the boss that I got to you. Apparently, he has a 'special task' for you." Sombra said. "The boss? You mean..." Pulse said, surprised. "Yep. Him, so I'd listen if I were you." Sombra said, contacting Talon as they spoke. Whatever the boss wanted, it was serious, and Pulse didn't want to know what Talon would do if he refused.

"Greetings, Sombra. I see you have reached our associate. I trust you remain undetected?" The mysterious man said. "Absolutely jefe. I have the cameras hacked, they don't know I'm here." She replied. "Good. Now, I have a message for you Pulse. It has come to my attention... that you know Aura personally. I want you to capture him. He prevented progress by stealing project A-66. Not only that, he has joined forces with Overwatch and has become a hindrance for far too long. You shall bring him to us, and perhaps we can make use of his blood." The mysterious man said with a serious tone. He stopped, noticing Pulse's shock even behind his helmet. He didn't know what the man meant when claiming to use his friend's blood. Would they kill him and try to recreate the serum from his remains? The very idea seemed horrifying to him. "You, mean you want to kill him?" Pulse asked. "That is not your concern agent. **Sigh** I suppose we are all human, and it may be hard to capture someone who you once considered your friend. But your purpose is clear, he is an enemy, a threat to our progress, and he must be dealt with accordingly, lest you forget who you are, and who you work for." The man said intimidatingly. "That is all, now get a move on." And so the call ended.

"Oh god..." Pulse said worriedly. Even if he and his friend were enemies, he couldn't do that to him, could he? They could torture him, kill him even. He didn't even want to think of what Talon had in store. "We... we didn't say goodbye in the best of terms... I... can't do that. What would they do to him? I just-" Pulse said, panicking more. "Calm down! Okay? Yes I admit it's pretty worrying what they would do. But he doesn't consider you a friend anymore. He's the enemy. Just do as they say, you don't need them turning you into another Widowmaker. It's him, or you..." Sombra said. Pulse didn't say anything afterwards, just weakly nodding in hesitation, but ultimately complying.

The two slowly opened the door and peeked out. Fortunately, no one was in sight. The two continued through the hall, and took a turn. The brothers were still in the room, and they would have to get through without being seen, but how? "I have an idea, I'll go invisible and knock something down. When they are distracted, run for it and go into the next hall." Sombra said, gaining a nod from her associate. The hacker disappeared from view, and soon a nearby book fell from the table. The heads of the three brothers snapped to the book, and Pulse made a silent sprint for the hall, exiting the room. Genji's head snapped behind them. "Hmm, thought I heard something..." The ninja said, before continuing with their activities. Sombra soon reappeared next to Pulse.

"Nice job. Now do a quick scan, there should be small group next room, but they might have already left." Sombra said, and Pulse quickly scanned the room with his visor. There were three agents. One of them was passed out however. They seemed busy with drinking, so they should be easier to sneak past. Sombra simply cloaked and headed right past them. But Pulse snuck into the room and hid behind a table before continuing and exiting the room. "Well, that was surprisingly easy..." Pulse said. "Yeah yeah. Anyways, we would go straight to head to the LZ but we have to take a detour to go to the quarters and, well, you know..." Sombra said, gaining a nod from the agent.

Pulse scanned the area once again. Most of the agents in their quarters were mostly sleeping, or busy with something else. However, when they arrived at Aura's quarters, they saw that he was not alone. "So Mercy is still with him?" Sombra asked. "I guess so. She's probably doing the whole phsycologist act. He was pretty angry when the two left the prison cells." Pulse replied. "We're gonna have to wait until Mercy gets out. Quick, hide." Sombra said. Pulse quickly looked around him and hid behind a nearby crate. A few minutes passed and Mercy got out of the room, leaving Aura alone.

Sombra waited until Mercy got out of sight and then entered the room, activating her cloaking device again. Aura simply lay in bed with a bored expression, before he was surprised by Sombra and held into a chokehold. Aura nearly broke free, however he was punched in the face by Pulse before he had the chance to do so, knocking him out. "Alright, so that's done. You carry him I guess. Now let's get out of here." Sombra said, handing over the knocked out Overwatch agent and exiting the room.

The two continued through the empty halls and eventually headed outside. Before they could continue, they spotted two omnic units just outside. "Shit, forgot about those. These are gonna be a lot harder to sneak past... The ship is cloaked nearby, but we have to get past these first." Sombra said. The two slowly continued, stopping just before the omnics could see them. "Okay, I don't exactly know how we're getting through these two. I'll cloak myself and walk past, but as for you, try to move very slowly." Sombra said before dissapearing once again. Pulse stuck close to the wall and moved forward very slowly to avoid attracting attention. He continued moving, before stepping into a loose branch, causing a loud cracking noise. The heads of the omnics snapped right to him, and their optics turned red. _Oh come on this has to be the MOST CLICHE THING EVER._ Pulse thought to himself and started running to the landing zone.

The omnics immediately jumped down from their lookout and fired up their weapons. Gunfire echoed through the deep stone walls of the Watchpoint. Pulse managed to reach some cover next to Sombra, and the latter hacked the Bastion unit, temporarily shutting it down, and the two continued running. The ship came into view and opened its doors, however the Helix automaton was still hot on their tail. The omnic fired up its minigun towards the dropship, damaging it, before being hacked by Sombra. It wasn't enough to be shut down, but it did slow him down and jammed its weapons. Quickly, the two agents stepped into the dropship and flew off, leaving the base behind as the alarms blasted.

 ***Back at Watchpoint Gibraltar***

The agents quickly grouped up outside where the two omnics were staying. "D3 what happened!" Almost everyone asked in unison. "Bastion and I were on lookout duty for the night, so we spent the last half hour perched up on a balcony. I spotted two hostiles trying to sneak past us. I couldn't quite identify them, though one was female, wearing purple clothing, and hacked Bastion into a shut down. I presume it to be Sombra. The other was male, and had black and green combat armor. I also attempted to fire carefully, as the latter was carrying someone with them. I didn't know who it was, but they were also male and of lean figure." D3 explained.

"Sombra... Sombra broke in and got Pulse out!" Tracer said angrily. "D3, you said they were carrying someone with him... Oh god... Pulse has kidnapped someone from this Watchpoint!" Mercy said in realization. "Let's try to be calm for a second. Talon knows of our location. We have to move elsewhere, or we are open to more attacks." Winston said. "That's besides the point though! Someone just got captured! Besides, where do you suggest we go!?" Tracer said worriedly. "I believe Watchpoint Grand Mesa could be a valid option." Winston stated. Then Mercy spoke up. "Wait a minute, has anyone seen Nathan?"

 ***Brief time skip. At the Talon Headqaurters***

Nathan woke up to a bright light shining in his eyes. "Ah what the- wait, where am I." He said to himself, noticing he was tied up to some sort of chair. "You are in Talon's main headqaurters, Aura." A deep, menacing voice spoke. It was none other than Doomfist himself, as he stepped into the light, accompanied by Reaper and a few Talon grunts. "Reaper... AND Doomfist... So what? I suppose we do the whole 'Nice to meet ya' thing?" Nathan said sarcastically. "Funny that even when faced with death, you remain so arrogant. Now, you have something that belongs rightfully to us, and we want it back." Doomfist said. "Oh you mean my powers? What then, are you gonna kill me for them?" Nathan said. "If you keep that up, we will. I have no qualms against you being shot, so you better keep it quiet." Reaper said, annoyed.

"Well, who am I to obey you?" Nathan said before breaking his restraints and punching a grunt in the gut, sending him back. However, before he could attack the next, the grunt dodged and punched him hard, sending him down unto the floor. Then, Doomfist punched him, sending him flying into the wall. Before he could retaliate, a flashbang was thrown into the room, exploding right next to the Overwatch agent. Afterwards, a few more grunts picked him up and sat him back down unto the chair, tightening his restraints. "Ah shit, how was that soldier so **cough** strong" Nathan said, confused. Before anyone could speak, the mysterious man walked into the light, wearing full heavy combat armor. The man was huge, rivaling even the size of reinhardt, and wore an even larger set of advanced combat armor.

The armor was dark blue, and had a helmet with a large visor that covered the man's facial features. The man carried a large rocket launcher in his back and some flashbangs strapped to his waist. "That soldier, as you so eloquently put it, was stronger than you anticipated because it has been injected with a new, refined super soldier serum. I predicted you would attempt to break out, I just wanted to take advantage of this situation to show you the power we have created, to show you that you can be broken, and to show you that you are not as strong as you believe. Unfortunately the serum didn't grant crazy powers or energy control, but our soldiers will all have the strength to rival even you." The man said. "And who the hell are you?" Nathan said, coughing out blood. "I am the head of the Talon council. Though you may refer to me as Markus." The man said in a deep russian accent, taking off his helmet. "So you already succeeded in creating a new serum, so why the hell do you want me?" Nathan questioned. "That is none of your concern. All you need to know is that your powers are rightfully ours, and we want them back. Besides, we were sending Sombra to break Pulse out anyways, so why not kill two birds with one stone?" Markus said. "Wait... Pulse was the one who captured me? No, he wouldn't, he couldn't. Even if we are enemies he would never do such a thing." Nathan said, feeling even more betrayed than before.

"You feel confused, betrayed, angry don't you? Indeed, it was him who captured you, and it was him who was condemned you to sit here in this very moment." Markus said. "No, no, no... He wouldn't..." Nathan said to himself, tears building up in his eyes. "Regardless of what you tell yourself, it won't change the truth." The man spoke. Nathan always knew that he wasn't invincible, and that was already proven before, but now he stood broken, defeated, doomed by the very person he considered his best friend. He was doomed to be at the mercy of Talon, because of Anthony.

"You see, you have disrupted us and our progress for too long, Aura, and the time has come, for that to end. We shall rise from your failure, and from your demise." Markus said, pulling out a gun and pointing it at the agent. Nathan didn't try to struggle, or fight back. It was over, there was no hope anymore. And the it was one of the persons he held dearest in his heart that was at fault for it all. Pulse could only watch in horror and guilt from outside the room. _No, no no what have I done..._ Pulse thought. Nathan heard Markus' voice speak for the last time. "Now, from this day forward, Aura, will be no more."


	27. Rebirth

**So as always, I'm sorry for the delay. So I really want to thank those that have stuck with this story and are actively reading it and actually tolerating my inconsistent uploads and such. I think I'm getting carried away just updating this, and I should probably also update my other story... Anyways, on with the story.**

It was a rather lazy morning at the Talon headquarters. The Overwatch headquarters was a different story however. Talon sent an encrypted video message to Overwatch, showing Markus' entire speech against Aura, and the latter's execution at the hand of the Talon leader. All of the agents spent their day in grief. Some of them were in complete fury, feeling the need to tear Pulse's head off, others wept, feeling guilt, that they weren't good enough to save their friend. Now with Aura dead, Overwatch wasn't quite the same.

Back to the Talon headquarters, Thomas Cooper woke up at the Talon medbay, nothing feeling quite right. His head ached severely, and he couldn't remember much of what had happened before. Upon noticing his awakening, a few nurses rushed to him, checking on his health before leaving him alone. Reaper soon entered the room, and approached the younger man. "Thomas, you're awake. Good." Reaper said, waiting to see if the agent had any questions about his condition.

"What the hell is happening to me, my body feels like it's gonna collapse into itself, and I barely remember anything." Thomas said. "I expected as much. You are a Talon agent, held high amongst the council in fact." Reaper explained before being interrupted.

"I know what Talon is and I know who I am, I mean I barely have any memory of what happened for me to be here, and why I am in such a shit condition." Thomas explained, gaining a nod from the skull-masked agent. "Right. You suffered from a concussion from a mission you were a part of a few weeks ago. It messed you up a bit, but not too long ago you also volunteered for the A-66 rebirth project. So I don't think the concussion is the real reason behind your lack of memory." Reaper explained.

"Rebirth project? What are you on about exactly." Thomas asked. "Do you know who Aura is, or should I say was?" Reaper said, gaining a nod from the agent. "Yeah, he was an Overwatch agent, what about him?" He asked. "He's dead. We managed to capture him a few days ago, and we managed to extract the serum from him shortly after his death. You volunteered to be injected with it, and well, become a human weapon... It was a rather shady practice, but you were injected. I believe your concussion, combined with the serum being injected into you, has affected your memory somewhat. The chemicals of project A-66 were extremely dangerous and unpredictable, way more unreliable than the serum that we recently created, so it was only luck that Aura ended up the way he did. So it is pretty logical to believe that the serum taking its toll on your body is the reason behind your pain, and your unpredictable memory loss, but judging from our data, the serum seems to ultimately be working the way it should, for the most part." Reaper finished his explanation, once again gaining a nod from Cooper, confirming that he was understanding.

"Anyways Cooper, you are to stay off duty for the following days, and let the serum develop. Once we are certain, we will be conducting some tests on you to see the extent of your abilities." Reaper finished, and left the medbay.

 ***Back at Watchpoint: Gibraltar***

The Overwatch agents held a funeral-like ceremony to commemorate their fallen friend; even though they did not have Nathan's body, they hosted the burial nonetheless. "I just can't believe he's gone..." Titan said sadly, having been one of Nathan's closest friends within Overwatch, his friend's death hurt him deeply. "I didn't know him for long, but I can tell he was a great person, someone that clearly didn't deserve something like this to happen to him." Symmetra said quietly.

Everyone stayed there in silence, trying to hold back their tears and feelings, others failing at doing so. Granted, back when Overwatch was in its prime, deaths happened somewhat often, given the huge amount of agents that composed the organization, but when the group was as limited as it was, everyone got particularly close, and upon someone's death, it hit especially close.

Soon, people started leaving the scene one by one, until eventually no one was there, dealing with the loss in their own way. And yet life had to go on, no one could afford to linger on the past. There was still work to be done, and most importantly, a change of Watchpoint.

 ***Small time skip, three days have passed***

Overwatch soon began negotiations with Helix Security, discussing the terms of Watchpoint: Grand Mesa. Helix eventually granted Overwatch the Watchpoint, removing their own forces from the Watchpoint, but offering to help with the transition, as well as letting Overwatch keep some of the tech located in the base. After all, Helix Security was upon the few companies in the world that was in good terms with Overwatch, and was willing to ignore the Petras Act for them, help them even.

It took an entire day, but soon everything that needed to be moved, was moved, and Overwatch got ownership of the old Watchpoint once again. Thankfully for them, Helix's presence meant the base was in great conditions, and as such they didn't have to spend a long time cleaning up and such.

 ***Back at Talon headquarters***

Pulse and Volt were called by Markus to the training quarters, not quite sure why. "So why do you think they called us here?" Volt asked. "No idea... Maybe some sort of special training exercise?" Pulse replied. "Ah yes, thank you both for coming. I know you're wondering why you have been summoned. We want you to help us test something." Markus said, confusing the two. "Test what exactly?" Volt asked, crossing his arms.

"No other than our new and improved agent. The volunteer from the A-66 rebirth project. You will fight him, and we shall see how well the serum is working on him." Markus explained, making Pulse feel extremely guilty once again because of what he caused; at least the mask hid his expressions. Without further delay, the two agents walked into the training area.

"So surely you have heard of the name "Ion", circulating around the headquarters no? Time you meet him in person." Markus said, and Thomas walked into the light. Fresh from the tests that he had undergone, "Ion" had some test tubes attached to his skin, and a tight bodysuit. He had marks of scars around his body, and he looked drained, or almost dead inside. Ion had a dead expression to his face; cold, unfeeling, simply staring at the two agents, almost as if awaiting instruction.

If anything, it reminded Pulse of Widowmaker. "Jesus, is that..." Pulse said. "Yep..." Volt soon replied. "Just what did they do to him?" Volt whispered. "Anyways, without further ado, begin!" Markus said, and Ion's eyes began glowing a bright blue and yellow, and his fists were engulfed in bright energy, aiming them at the agents. Volt quickly dodged out of the way, and using his lightning, began slowing their adversary. Ion was stunned for a second, but soon recovered and managed to punch Volt out of the way.

Pulse ran for it and began firing his pistols at Ion, who retaliated by punching Pulse in the chest, sending him back. Pulse however, quickly recovered and continued firing his pistols at his combatant. Once his pistols ran out of ammo, he ran up to Ion, engaging him in a close quarters fist fight. Ion tried punching him again, but Pulse quickly dodged to the right and jabbed him in the stomach instead, causing Ion to briefly stop attacking. While the two were distracted in their fight, Volt charged up a lightning bolt, throwing it at Ion.

The electricity struck hard, impacting him hardly, and overwhelming him, leaving him exposed to attack from the two Talon agents. Pulse and Volt took this as their chance to strike. Volt ran back and forth with his insane speed, hitting him quickly, punch after punch, while Pulse did the same. However, before the two could continue attacking, Ion charged up energy in his arms, and released it, unloading energy all around him like a bomb, sending the two back.

Before Volt could recover, a ray of energy struck him, pinning him to the wall. The ray ceased, but was soon followed up by Ion flying up to Volt, grabbing him and then throwing him into another wall. Pulse tried punching his adversary again, only to be blocked and grabbed. Ion quickly flew into the air, taking Pulse with him, and then slamming him back down.

"Alright! I think I've seen enough. Ion, well done, you may proceed to the medbay, and get in better shape." Markus said, earning a nod from Cooper. Before leaving however, Thomas offered his hand to Pulse, who looked at him, confused. "We're still allies, remember? Let me help you back up." Ion said, still cold and emotionless. Ion helped the agent up before proceeding to do the same with Volt, then exiting the room.

"And that right there, is what we call, a succesful human weapon..." Markus said, laughing evilly.

 **Not a very long chapter, I must admit. But this continues on what happens after Aura is captured, and his... unfortunate demise. So yes, Aura is well, gone. I expect things to become a bit darker going forward. In place of Aura, comes a new OC called Thomas Cooper, or better known as Ion. He is basically a young agent from Talon that was injected with the serum that was recovered from Aura after his death. He was also sort of brainwashed to be emotionless and cold like Widowmaker. So in case you didn't catch on, he basically has all the abilities that Aura had, but is a cold, ruthless killer that works for Talon instead. MORE EVIL! Either way, let me know what you think of this story so far, or don't, I'm not forcing you. Anyways hope you enjoyed this chapter or found it interesting.**


	28. Questionable recruits

"Let me get this straight. You want me to lead a raid on the Numbani city security quarters with a crazy Australian man, and an obese chemical addict who constantly wears a pig mask." Ion asked, unimpressed, looking back at Junkrat and Roadhog, Talon's recently hired psychopathic duo.

"Indeed Ion. I know they look unfit for the job, but they are far deadlier than you imagine them to be. First impressions can be deceiving, after all. Now don't question it, and carry on with the mission. You are to leave in 10 minutes." Markus said, leaving without another word.

Ion walked to the duo, motioning them to follow him. The two simply stared for a few seconds before following the Talon agent. Ion wore a new combat suit. It was completely black with blue outlines, and he wore a full mask, with two blue eyeholes.

The three walked to their assigned dropship, where a squad of soldiers was awaiting them, and upon noticing their superior, straightened up and followed the three into the dropship. After everyone got onboard, the dropship left for the city of Numbani. "So, it's gonna be a long flight, what do ya wanna do mate?" Junkrat asked the Talon agent, who only glanced at him briefly, then ignoring him.

"Oh crikey! You're cold aren't ya! What's ya name?" Junkrat asked again, slightly annoying the man.

"My name is Thomas Cooper; I'd appreciate it if you kept quiet unless you really have to speak." Ion said, finding it hard to take the two seriously.

" **Sigh** Fine, since you are so eager to talk, let's talk. So what is that thing you always carry around, some sort of toxic vape?" Ion said, earning a grunt from Roadhog.

"Eh, he doesn't talk much. I'm not really sure what it is either. Apparently it helps him recover injuries really quickly. Never really understood how it works." Junkrat explained.

"So what's your thing then?" Ion asked.

"Well, I like to blow things up hehehe!" Junkrat said, laughing in a slightly maniacal tone.

"And how and why did you two get hired exactly?" Ion asked.

"I guess your good ol' superior saw some potential in us. There's money in it for us, and maybe I can get to blow up some omnics, seems like a fair trade to us." Junkrat said.

"Money... that seems rather mundane." Ion said.

"Well enlighten me oh wise one, what are your plans that seem so much better?" Junkrat asked.

"I'd say Talon's vision is grander than that..." Ion said, rather cryptically. Before Junkrat could ask anything more, the dropship arrived at its destination and began hovering slightly above the ground.

"Alright everyone, go go go!" Ion ordered, and the soldiers jumped off the dropship and opened fire, taking out some guards and infiltrating the security headquarters. Junkrat and Roadhog soon followed.

"Alright pal, you hook em! And I'll cook em!" Junkrat said, laughing maniacally, blowing up various guards and creating various holes on the walls of the quarters, allowing more soldiers to enter. Hog hooked a guard and shot him point blank, tearing the man to shreds, also laughing maniacally.

 ***Back at Efi's home***

Efi and Orisa were watching TV lazily, when their show was interrupted by breaking news, announcing that Talon was currently attacking the Security Force's quarters with the help of Roadhog and Junkrat, and that many guards had already been killed or incapacitated when the police had arrived. "Orisa, you have to go help them! They won't stand a chance without help!" Efi said worridly, though Orisa was one step ahead of her, already stepping out the door.

"On it! Stay safe!" Orisa said, leaving her young creator alone.

"Be safe, Orisa." Efi said quietly.

 ***Back at the Security headquarters***

The Talon squad advanced through the base effortlessly, taking down everyone that stood before them. Ion tore through them with his energy, Roadhog kept hooking more guards and shredding them, occasionally stopping to take a breather, and Junkrat just blew everything up. The Talon soldiers were at the frontline however, and it was clear that the serum was paying off. They were deadlier than ever before. Their aim was on point, taking out every guard before they got close. Those that did, got obliterated or hooked by Roadhog.

Eventually they reached the intel room, downloading the data without delay, as well as stealing additional supplies before retreating. "Raid complete, Delta Six, heading back for pickup." Ion said through the comms.

"Affirmative. Proceed quickly, the police are just outside, and the ship's shields won't absorb much more fire before they break." The pilot replied.

"Alright let's move!" Ion commanded, and everyone complied, rushing back to the entrance of the base, fortunately with minimal resistance.

"Wait, I can see an unidentified aircraft... It's opening fire! Shit mayday mayday mayda-." The pilot said before communications were cut off.

"Delta six! Delta six do you read! Crap, our ship is down, contact Talon and request backup immediately!" Ion said, a Talon soldier nodding, already calling Talon for a replacement ship. When the group exited, they found that the perimeter was surrounded by police.

"Halt! Not so fast..." Orisa said as she entered the scene, ready to place a barrier should things go south. The mysterious jet hovered above the scene, with a singular figure hopping out of it. It was no other than Rogue.

"Now you stay there! I got a bounty on you two and if anyone's killing ya, its me." Rogue said.

No one opened fire, but everyone was ready to fight as soon as things went south. "New dropship on the way, ETA ten minutes." a Talon commander notified through the comms.

"Alright everyone, we just need to fight them off for ten minutes and we get out of here." Ion whispered, only letting his squad listen to his words.

It wasn't long before the Talon soldiers opened fire in unison, taking down many police officers in only a few seconds, forcing the remaining ones to take cover. Orisa was quick to place her barrier to defend herself and the officers from fire, and Rogue quickly rolled to cover. Rogue quickly stepped out of cover and fired a bolt, covering the area with a toxic gas cloud, forcing the Talons squad to scatter. Ion quickly flew up and over Orisa's barrier, firing energy blasts at the officers and at the four-legged omnic.

The energy blasts were enough to wound and kill some of the officers, but Orisa activated her special armor, fortifying herself and mitigating most of the damage from the energy blasts. The omnic fired her fusion driver at the Talon agent, but found that he was too quick for her to land any shots. "Damn it! Don't move!" Orisa said as she fired a graviton bomb, sucking in Ion and hitting him multiple times with her machine gun, burning through his armor, then following up with a punch, sending him back.

Roadhog managed to hook the omnic bounty hunter to him, however before he could fire the shot, Rogue stabbed him with a toxic bolt, weakening Hog and setting himself free, continuing to fire with his crossbow. Roadhog forced himself to cover weakly, and took a breather of his cannister, reverting the effects of the toxins and healing some of his wounds.

Junkrat fired his bombs at the police cars, blowing them up and killing the officers behind them. "Fire in the hole!" The psychopath said as he unleashed his rip-tire unto a group of officers, as well as Rogue, that was standing nearby.

"Oh crap everyone scatter!" Rogue shouted. The tire rolled at the group and blew up, thankfully only wounding some officers instead of killing them, much to the Australian's dismay.

Rogue fired an tether bolt at the two criminals, trapping them in place as the bolt spewed out two tethers at them. The bounty hunter took this as the time to strike, firing off some bolts at his targets before being forced back into cover by the Talon soldiers. Ion recovered from Orisa's attacks, retaliating by punching her hard, sending her back, and then unleashing energy at the omnic, damaging her.

As soon as he saw that she was out of the fight, he flew to his team's aid, deciding not to stay when Orisa recovered. Ion fired at Rogue's tethers, setting Roadhog and Junkrat free, letting them return to cover.

The Talon agent then flew at Rogue, firing various energy blasts before punching him. Rogue recovered and punched the Talon agent, who quickly blocked and retaliated. However, before the fight could escalate further, Rogue stabbed Ion with another toxic bolt. "Ah fuck..." Ion said as he began feeling ill, forcing himself to cover. Thankfully, the Talon dropship arrived at the scene, picking up everyone.

Roadhog ran for the dropship, but picked up Ion and took him into the ship. Once everyone was aboard, the ship left, leaving the officers to themselves. "God dammit! They got away. Is everyone alright?" Orisa said, looking back at the police officers. Many of them lay dead in the floor. Those that were wounded were being treated by other fellow officers, and ambulances could be heard in the distance, rushing to the scene. Once Orisa was certain the police was alright, she turned to the omnic bounty hunter beside her.

"You seem hurt." Orisa said. Rogue had some burn marks from the rip tire explosion, as well as bullet holes and other minor burns from Roadhog's scrap and the soldier's weapons.

"Really? What gave it away? Jokes aside though, your creator is really good with machines right. Ya think she could help me out?" Rogue asked.

"Of course! Efi will be happy to help. What's your name?" Orisa asked.

"Oh, my name's Proto Boltbot." Rogue replied.

"Well Proto, I would like to say thanks for your help. Without you, the situation would surely have been worse." Orisa said.

"I guess I should thank you too." The bounty hunter replied.

"You seem to know Roadhog and Junkrat..." Orisa asked.

"Yeah I do. I met them the first time in Australia, when I was just starting my career as a bounty hunter. They had a huge price on their heads, which made them worthwhile. We fought, but eventually they got away. I was always determined to bring them down, and its been a wild goose chase ever since." Rogue said, earning a nod from the larger omnic.

"Well, we should get going. It isn't good for us to be standing here while we are in this state." Orisa said, looking back at the officers one last time before walking back home.

"I should probably pick up my jet first..."


	29. A (not) peaceful afternoon in Oasis

**So hey guys. Sorry that I kept you waiting. But I've been busy with school again and I haven't been feeling the greatest urges to write. Don't worry, I'll still finish this and I think it won't be long until it's over. I am doing this as a sort of side activity for fun, so sorry if I don't feel like writing or don't have a very established schedule. Also for the longest time I've been lacking inspiration as to where to head off but I think this chapter is good and it will have some big plot points to pay attention to. Other than that, hope you enjoy and see you in the next one.**

A Talon dropship was currently en route to Oasis, carrying a team to carry out a raid on a tech warehouse for weapons. In it was Ion, Ryker, Cyber-Wolf, Pulse, and Sombra. "So what was it exactly we're after?" Pulse asked. "Some advanced weapon tech that the Oasis scientists are developing. Talon wants em' so the soldiers can use them, and well, replicate them. It's supposed to help us." Ryker replied, gaining a nod from the younger soldier. The rest of the trip was spent mostly in silence.

As the ship approached, it activated its cloak to prevent being detected, and the Talon agents got off. "Sombra, break in and find some terminals to hack. To disable security systems." Ion commanded, and Sombra nodded. "Yeah... find terminals... got it." Sombra said as she disappeared from view.

The rest stayed on the outskirts of the base. "All right, I'm in. I cut the camera feed for the security staff, but I can see through the cameras to help you. I can also manipulate some of the doors, so that's neat." Sombra said.

As the team proceeded throughout the outskirts, they came across a guard that promptly noticed them. However, before he could alert the rest, an energy blast hit him straight in the face, killing him. "Damn, just like that. I'm starting to like this guy." Ryker said.

"Sombra, we're on one of the side doors near the east side of the base, can you open it?" Ion asked. Sombra quickly alternated between the camera feeds until she found her team.

"Alright, there are some guards right behind the door, so get ready to get rid of them. Opening the door in 3, 2, 1..." Sombra counted down and opened the door, with the Talon agents immediately opening fire on the guards, dropping them.

"This area's clear. The weapons stash should be north from here. Let's keep moving." Ryker said.

The team proceeded through the base, clearing out a few rooms, until they reached the main hall. There was a large door, guarded by multiple armed personnel. "That's our target... Get ready to attack." Ion said as they waited, hidden in cover. After a short delay, the team rushed out of cover and fought the guards head on. Cyber-Wolf leaped into the enemy, smashing one of them unto the ground and sending the surrounding guards flying back, then rushing to another one and ripping him apart. Ion flew up in the air, firing down barrages of energy blasts unto the guards, while Ryker and Pulse picked off the rest with their pistols. There were no more guards standing, but now the alarms roared in full strength.

"Reinforcements are bound to be on their way, so let's get this over with, quick." Ryker said.

"Yeah, question though, how are we opening this door?" Pulse said.

"I've got an idea..." Ion said, walking towards one of the dead guards. The guard carried a large energy LMG that was connected to a machine attached to the guard's back. After tearing the casing apart, Ion grabbed the energy battery powering the gun.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Sombra asked through the comms. Without answering, Ion crushed the battery in his hand, sucking up all of its energy, glowing a bright blue and yellow, with a large aura surrounding him. He aimed his hands at the door, unleashing a large beam of energy, melting right through the metal. After that was done, he returned to normal.

"I like to call it an 'overcharge'. Let's move." Ion said, rushing inside. There were a few guards, but they were quickly taken down by the Talon agents. Now all that was left was the defenseless scientists. "Everyone get down! In case you didn't realize already, you're being held hostage, so don't do anything stupid." Ryker said with a sarcastic overtone. "Now, I'll ask once, where are you keeping the weapons?" Ryker said, pointing his hand cannon at one of the scientists. "Hmm, no one's gonna speak up huh? I admire that, but..." He said once again, shooting the scientist right in the forehead. "Now, who's next."

"Don't bother, I found them already." Ion said, getting the attention from the rest of the Talon agents. "Hey, Metal Canine, make sure these guys don't move, kay?" Ryker said, and the omnic's eyes snapped to the scientists, keeping track of every move they made.

The rest regrouped at the weapon stash. "Hmm, interesting, these were all to be shipped to Helix Security and the IDSF, we dodged a bullet here. Call for the talon dropship to get this loaded. Make sure they get everything. Talon will want the blueprints, so download everything and then wipe the data these guys have." Ion said.

"Got it! Working on the blueprints now- Wait, Overwatch is coming. I can see one of their dropships approaching." Sombra said.

"What about the scientists?" Pulse asked. If they were left alive, they could spill information that didn't have to be known by the public, or work on more weapons to sell to Helix or the IDSF.

"Let's just kill them." Ion said, blasting energy into many of the scientists, with the rest following suit. After a few seconds, all of the scientists were dead, only leaving a slaughter of bloodied corpses. "Alright let's go! The dropship is arriving near the back of the base!" Ion said, rushing towards the exit, with the others following him.

Out of the dropship came out Tracer, Lucio, Ana, Soldier 76, and Reinhardt. They quickly entered the base and followed the Talon agent's tracks, through the dead guards, through the weapons room, through the slaughter of the scientists. "Bloody hell. They did this?! I'm so gonna kill them for this!" Tracer said, enraged at the death of the innocent people.

The Overwatch agents arrived at the back of the base, where a Talon dropship had landed. There was talon soldiers loading the weapon caches. Well, that explains why the weapon stash was empty.

There were soldiers covering the ones that carried weapons unto the ship. The team of Talon agents, including Sombra, regrouped and fought Overwatch back while the goons loaded the weapons and gave covering fire.

Cyber-wolf rushed Reinhardt, taking him back with his heavy weight and frame. Ion flew towards Tracer, taking her with him and isolating her from the fight. Pulse, Ryker and Sombra handled Ana, Soldier 76 and Lucio, with Sombra occasionally hacking one of them, jamming their equipment and forcing them to cover.

Cyber-wolf fired rounds into Reinhardt, only to be blocked by his barrier shield. Seeing this, the omnic leaped unto the crusader's back and started slashing away at the back of his armor, denting it and breaking the large jet on the back, but ultimately, not doing any direct harm to the giant. Cyber-wolf loaded his smgs and almost unloaded them unto the giant's back. However, Reinhardt managed to get Cyber-wolf off, hitting him with the hammer. While the omnic was stunned, Reinhardt tried to slam his hammer down and finish the omnic, which promptly dodged out of the way and retaliated with a hard strike.

Ion and Tracer fought, away from the rest. Tracer managed to blink in and get a few strikes on Ion, but the talon agent answered with a hard punch, sending Tracer back, causing her to recall and undo the pain. Ion quickly fired a barrage of energy blasts, forcing Tracer to rush to cover. After the barrage stopped, she fired her energy pistols, hitting Ion's armor and melting through some of it, hurting the talon agent. Ion answered by firing a large ray at the wall where Tracer was hiding, breaking it down, forcing her out of cover.

In desperation, Tracer tried rushing her opponent, blinking constantly to mess with his aim as she approached. She blinked around Ion, shooting and punching him quickly and relentlessly. However, before she could continue her attack, Ion erupted a blast of energy in all directions, sending her flying into a wall. Ion quickly followed up by punching her chronal accelerator hard, damaging it. Thankfully, it would hold and keep her anchored, but that meant no more recalling or blinking for the rest of the fight. She ran away from Ion, firing her pistols as she went, and then coming back, kicking him right in the head, cracking part of his helmet. That would leave a mark.

Back at the ship, the talon soldiers finished loading all the cargo they could, and headed inside. Ryker called for everyone to group up so they could escape. Cyber-wolf, hearing this, quickly left the fight against Reinhardt and headed for the dropship. "Agh! Coward! Come back here and fight!" Reinhardt said, annoyed. Both Reinhardt and Cyber-wolf had sustained damage during the fight, but throughout no one had gained a distinct advantage.

However, Ion and Tracer still fought. Ion used his flight to quickly move up to Tracer and punch her, sending her into a wall, and then firing a blast into her, hurting her more and leaving a few burn marks. Now Tracer was knocked down on the ground. With her chronal accelerator faulty, she wasn't recalling or blinking anywhere.

Despite this, Ion was also very hurt, with bullet holes and small individual burn marks and cuts scattered across his armor. His helmet had a large crack near his left eye, and some of his armor was broken. The rest of Ion's team was fleeing for the dropship with all the weapons they could gather after Overwatch intervened.

Unfortunately they couldn't get away with all the weapons, due to Overwatch's meddling, but it would do.

"So what then huh?! Are you gonna kill me then? Like all those innocents that you murdered? Huh?! Go ahead then!? Do it! Kill me and go back to working for those killers, you good for nothin' terrorist! DO IT!" Tracer shouted, insulting him. Ion only looked at her in silence. He could see her hatred towards him, perhaps because he came to be because of the sacrifice of one of her friends, but he could also tell she was frightened, scared, terrified of being in such a weak position, of being at the mercy of death. Somehow he felt, guilt? No... that couldn't be it, or could it?

Killing her would be hugely beneficial for Talon. One less hindrance for their operations. But for some reason, something deep down told him not to do it, and Ion didn't know how or why he felt that way.

He also felt annoyed, even angered at what Tracer had said about him. He was only an agent, doing what needed to be done for the greater good, wasn't he? Just like how Tracer was an agent simply doing what she wrongly believed to be best. However, this all confused him. He wasn't supposed to truly feel, this much he knew. He knew that becoming emotionless was one of the things he agreed upon when he volunteered for the rebirth project. And yet, here he was, feeling anger, compassion even. It was there, it was true, and Ion couldn't explain how and why.

He could have just killed Tracer then and there, and yet, he couldn't bring himself to do it, that something deep inside was telling him he would deeply regret it if he did. Ion heard Ryker's voice on the comms, telling him to hurry up.

"No. You will live for another day..." Ion said with a low voice, his mind too conflicted to act upon the situation. This confused Tracer beyond belief, she couldn't understand how he could be sparing her, all things considered. After some hesitation, Ion ended his statement. "Consider this mercy." And with that, he walked off. Maybe Tracer would bleed out, or she would be found by the rest and recover.

He didn't know.

He got on the dropship, and they fled. As the ship soared through the air back to HQ, Ion was deep in thought. He had told Tracer that it was an act of mercy, but was it? Was it weakness? For not being able to kill his enemy when he was able? For feeling compassion for someone that had done nothing but annoy and hurt him? He felt no remorse upon killing the scientists, he knew it was best for the operation, but after seeing Tracer lying on the floor, wounded, helpless, defenseless, expressing so much hate and also fear, his mind stirred. And why?

He didn't know.

 ***A few hours later***

"Good work on the mission kid. We didn't get all of it, thanks to Overwatch, but we still got something, and those blueprints will help Talon make up for the losses, even make more. Now, even you need rest, so go get some sleep." Ryker said. As he walked off, Ion could hear him mumble.

"I still don't understand how Overwatch found out about us and got there so quickly, even if they somehow saw it in the news, they couldn't have arrived in time. Eh, I'll look over it later." Ryker said to himself as he walked off.

After that, Ion got to his quarters, trying to get some sleep. Thankfully, he managed to doze off.

 _He woke up, he was tied to some sort of chair. There were wires all around him, needles and syringes near his arms and neck. There was a strange machine attached to the chair._

 _He looked around, and saw he was surrounded by Talon superiors. He recognized Akande, Reaper, Markus... The machine activated, and his mind started to feel numb. Intense pain coursed throughout his body. He felt as though he would be torn apart. He could hear loud screams of hurt and misery._

 _No, those were his own screams. He felt something alien coursing through his body and mind. It hurt. It hurt horribly. More screams. Torture. Torment. The machine intensified, causing even more pain. He could feel himself shake violently in failed struggle, why struggle, though? His entire body felt sore from the pain. The machine reached maximum power. He could hear only one thing. A scream. A scream that begged for mercy. A desperate cry._

 _NOOOOO!_

Ion woke up with a start. He could feel his own fast heartbeat and hear his loud, panicked breaths. _That was, just a dream. No... What is going on. What is happening to me._ He thought to himself, alone in his dark room. First, the Tracer incident, and now... this... He had to think, try to make sense of it all.

He didn't get much sleep that night.

Or the night after that.


	30. Second assault

**Hello there people! Kept you waiting, I know, but I think I finally have this story planned to the end and I'm feeling inspired to write again. So hopefully, if all goes right and I find the time, I will be uploading the final chapters in the next two weeks or so, maybe less. I think its funny how much my plans for this story have changed. First, I planned the plot to be entirely different, but that changed. Then, I renamed the fic. Then, at one point, I thought this wasn't gonna have that much of a story or an ending and it would just go on for as long as I felt like it. But that's clearly changed with the whole super soldier arc and Talon's gain of power and all, and I think the chapters to come will go more in detail in the main story and they look promising. Regardless, here's a new chapter, and I believe it will be very important in its own right. I think it is well written, so I hope you'll enjoy it. So, let me know what you think. See ya in the next one.**

 **The day after the Talon attack on Oasis.**

"So the tech is secured, yes?" A sharp, female voice called out.

"Affirmative, we recovered various weapons that were being manufactured there, as well as some designs for nanotechnology... We failed to recover all of the blueprints for the latter. Regardless, the tech was scheduled to be shipped to Helix and the IDSF." Ion replied.

"The nanotechnology blueprints? Those are my designs! And you failed to recover it all?! Need I remind you that you were sent not only to recover weaponry for Talon, but also to recover my designs from those fools at Oasis?" The female voice replied, disappointed.

"I understand, but Overwatch got to us before we could retrieve all the tech in the facility." Ion said in a nearly monotone voice.

"Hmm, and how again did they reach you so quickly? It was impossible for Overwatch to know, least of all so soon. Markus and the council may be pleased, but this is not enough for me. The people at Oasis surely moved what was left of my work to a nearby facility, and I want you to infiltrate it tomorrow. I don't want excuses, Ion, I expect results, and I expect you not to disappoint." The woman said, dismissing the agent.

"I will see it done, Moira."

 **Meanwhile, at Watchpoint Grand Mesa**

An ORCA dropship landed at the Watchpoint's hangar, opening its doors. Out of it stepped out Mercy, accompanied by a young woman, around her early to mid 30s. She had long, flowing brown hair, smooth white skin, and uniquely purple eyes. She wore long dark blue and purple robes, with a long necklace with a large purple gem, with a peculiar belt which had a similar crystal engraved in it around her waist. It wasn't long before she was greeted by Winston and Tracer, which were waiting inside the hangar.

"Angela, its a pleasure to have you back! And I see you've brought a friend with you." Winston greeted the two.

"Of course Winston, heard it was new recruit day, so I brought her along, meet Veronica Brown." Angela said.

"Wait, Veronica Brown? THE Veronica Brown?! Oh my gosh! I've always wanted to meet 'er! They say she's a miracle worker in medicine, just like you!" Tracer replied, excited.

"I suppose you could say that. We meet a few years ago while I was out in a medical program in the middle east." Angela added.

"And, when I heard that Overwatch was back up and running, I couldn't pass up the chance to join! Angela's been really helpful guiding me through all of this procedure- Oh my, what happened to you Tracer, you're terribly bruised." Veronica said.

"Oh it's... it's nothing. I just got in a fight with that good for nothing Talon bloke, Ion, in yesterday's mission. Weirdest fella I've ever seen, he spared me when he could have killed me, that was really freaky." Tracer rambled.

"Yesterday? The Talon attack on the Oasis facility? Yeah, I saw, it was all over the news... heard they were after weapons, but I don't think that's the half of it..." Veronica said.

"What do you mean?" Tracer asked.

"You know Moira O'Deorain?" Veronica asked.

"Moira? You mean the spooky gal that works for Talon? Yeah, I've heard of her. I also heard she worked with Blackwatch back in the day." Tracer replied.

"Yeah, she was working with the scientists at Oasis, until she quit due to a falling out over some nanotechnology prototypes. But she never got those blueprints back because they technically belonged to Oasis. I suspect that they attacked not only for the weapons, but to get those blueprints back, and if it's true they didn't get away with all of it, then I fear they might attack again. Trust me, I know Moira, I met her back in the day when I joined Blackwatch. And I know she would stop at nothing to get her precious work back." Veronica explained.

"Wait, you were in Blackwatch too?" Tracer asked.

"Only for a few months. I was pretty young then, and Moira always thought she was better than me because she was older and had spent more time in the medical field. She thought it was ridiculous for someone my age to match her expertise, so she constantly made sure to ridicule me so I 'knew my place', and then I left. Besides, Blackwatch was too shady for me anyways. Oh, by the way Winston, I brought a friend of mine here if thats alright. He had a run in with Talon some time ago, and he managed to get away, but he's been freaking out ever since. I was wondering if you could help him figure this out." Veronica explained, gaining an understanding nod from the gorilla.

"Always Veronica, now where is this friend of yours." Winston asked. As if on queue, the man stepped out of the dropship. It was none other than Smoke, aka David Williams, the test victim from Talon's earlier super soldier programs.

"Hey there, Winston. I'm David. I managed to get outta Talon's grasp, but whatever they did to me in those tests is still affecting me. Apparently I can control fire and stuff, and I hope you could help me out with this?" David said.

"Of course we will help you, David. Your friend Veronica has only been here for a few minutes and has already given us plenty of useful insight, so we will be glad to help." Winston replied reassuringly.

But the dropship wasn't empty just yet, as Orisa and the bounty hunter Rogue stepped out of it.

"Orisa! You're joining us too, oh this is soooo cool! I've heard about all the things back at Numbani! Yer amazing!" Tracer said, even more excited. She was pretty sure that if omnics could blush, then Orisa was blushing just then.

"Oh my, thank you Tracer! It is such an honor to meet you! You're my inspiration! Efi would be delighted to meet you, but she's stayed back at Numbani, for now." Orisa replied happily.

"Ah the honor is all ours Orisa! And who's this you've brought with you?" Tracer asked, pointing at the bounty hunter.

"I am Proto Boltbot, better known as Rogue, badass bounty hunter extraordinaire!" Rogue said.

"Oh, Rogue! I've heard a little bit about you too. You're the crossbow guy right?" Tracer said, and the bounty hunter was clearly disappointed she had only heard 'a little bit' about him.

"He helped us fight back Talon in one of their raids on Numbani a few weeks ago, and Efi helped repair him after the fight. He's pretty good, I believe, and he wanted to tag along when he heard I was joining you." Orisa explained.

"Well, yeah, the bounty hunting stuff was making me feel kinda lonely, so I thought, why not join you? But, if I may, I would like to still be allowed to pursue my contracts... y'know, every omnic needs their bounty huntin' to grow big and strong, and I'm still chasing Junkrat and Roadhog down." Rogue said.

Tracer laughed at the omnic's ego, "Suuure, whatever you need."

 **The next day...**

"Titan, Specter and Tracer please report to my office as soon as possible." Winston announced through the comms, and the three quickly complied.

The three agents came into the office, and Winston greeted them. "Lena, Alex, Tyler; thanks for coming. I have some information I wish to share with you. Recently, there has been someone, or something, granting us information on Talon operations. Whoever they are, they have shared crucial details about Talon. And now, I have received another encrypted message from them, and it states that Ion will be infiltrating an Oasis research facility later today, close to the one that was attacked a few days ago. I want you to go to the base before Ion does, and ambush him. According to our anonymous source, Ion is after the rest of the blueprints for nanotech they failed to retrieve in their last attack." Winston explained.

"That is what Veronica told us earlier!" Lena said.

"Exactly! This is leading me to believe that this source may be trustworthy." Winston continued.

"Wait... If this source is a mole in Talon, what's to say that they couldn't be revealing information about Talon to gain our trust, and then lead us into a trap, what if this operation regarding Ion IS a trap?" Alex, or Specter, said.

"Hmm... While that is a good point, I think 'they' have revealed far more than Talon would be comfortable with. I mean, they have revealed that Talon succeeded in their most recent super soldier program, and they also revealed Talon's attack on Oasis early, which allowed us to intervene. If it wasn't for them, Talon would have been able to get their weapons and data without interruption of any sort. So, while this may seem suspicious, it is our best bet. I want you to leave for Oasis in 30 minutes, the dropship has been prepared." Winston ended his briefing, gaining understanding nods from the agents, who quickly left the office to prepare for their mission.

 **Time skip...**

Tracer, Specter and Titan arrived at the Oasis facility, surprising the workers there. "What on earth are you three doing here? This area is off limits ever since the Talon attack." The nearby manager said.

"Well, we've received word that Talon is gonna attack this facility, and we would like to be inside when it happens so we can stop it. The enemy isn't expecting us to be here." Specter replied.

"And why am I supposed to trust you?" The manager said, unsure as to why Talon would attack again in the first place.

"I suppose you don't have to. But would you rather just stand there while the enemy attacks and have your men killed, or do something about it." Specter said, with a very sharp tone to his voice.

The manager gave out a long sigh, but ultimately agreed with the agent. "Alright, I trust you. Come with me, I have a place where you can wait."

The agents were taken into the facility, near the main entrance. The idea was, that once Ion came, the workers would run inside, and when Ion came chasing after them, the Overwatch agents would ambush him and bring him down. That was the plan, at least.

Now, all they had to do was wait...

 **Time skip...**

Soon enough, a Talon stealth dropship uncloaked out of thin air, firing its cannons, alerting all of the workers and forcing them to run for cover. Ion jumped out, with a small squadron of soldiers at his disposal. The group ran at the base while Ion flew up above, raining energy blasts at the civilians, forcing them to retreat into the facility.

"I don't want any witnesses. Go after them, I won't be far behind." Ion commanded coldly, and the soldiers nodded, running into the base, while Ion examined the facility from the inside, looking for potential insertion points. However, his examination was cut short when heavy gunshots and plasma cannon blasts were heard from inside the base.

When Ion entered the base, he found all of his soldiers dead on the ground, while the workers had all gone deeper into the base, with the doors shut and no way to follow them. Ion looked around the room, searching for the ones responsible for his soldier's deaths.

The main entrance closed shut abruptly, leaving him locked in the room. _This wasn't part of the plan..._ Ion thought as he desperately looked around him, with no one to be seen. Suddenly, Specter uncloaked behind him, and slashed at the Talon agent, barely missing as Ion noticed him and dodged out of the way just before the hard light blade hit him. Before Ion could retaliate, a heavy crash was heard behind him, as Titan landed his heavy suit behind him, deploying his arm mounted riot shield and bashing him hard, sending him flying towards the nearby wall.

Tracer soon blinked alongside her teammates, surrounding Ion. The Talon agent fell to the ground and stood back up, grabbing two identical devices in each hand. "New toys eh?" Tracer said cockily. Ion said nothing, and activated the twin devices. They lit up, opening up, unleashing full-sized metallic blades.

Seeing this, Specter deployed his arm light blades. "Bringing a knife to a knife fight..." The vigilante said, charging at the Talon agent, who patiently awaited his enemy's moves. Tracer and Titan followed suit, firing their weapons as they approached their enemy.

Ion blocked Specter's blades with his own, and counter-attacked, using the hilt to land a blunt blow on Specter's chest, stunning him, and then using his other blade to slash at his opponent, cutting through some of the armor. Ion sheathed the blade on his left hand, putting it back on its holster, leaving one hand free to use his energy powers. While Ion was distracted with Specter, Titan ran up to the Talon agent, hitting him hard with his armor's metallic fist, and went for a second strike, which was blocked, allowing Ion to push Titan off him. Gaining some distance over his enemy, Ion slashed at Titan, who kept his shield up, blocking the blade's attacks. However, Ion's constant strikes left Titan with little breathing room, until Tracer unleashed her clips on Ion, burning through his armor, and then kicking him right in the face, knocking him down.

"Not in the left eye again!" Ion growled, annoyed at the brit, flying towards her and quickly tackling her into a wall. Ion punched Tracer multiple times, but before he could do any further damage, the brit recalled, undoing all the damage done to herself and taking herself away from the Talon agent.

Titan flew up to Ion's level, punching him hard and sending him back to the ground, sending a small barrage of rockets at him. Ion rushed out of the way, but the rockets' explosions managed to reach him, sending him back and burning some of the back of his suit.

Specter drew his assault rifle, firing at Ion, who frantically grabbed a nearby piece of rubble, using it as a shield. Ion flew up into the air and threw the rubble at the vigilante, which grappled out of the way. Titan and Tracer attacked simultaneously. Tracer blinked through the environment while firing her pulse pistols, while Titan engaged in close range. Ion attempted to strike Titan, who grabbed his arm and pushed it away, sending his blade flying away from reach. The Talon agent reached for his second blade, before Titan tackled him into the ground, crushing the second blade under his weight.

Titan primed his plasma cannon, aiming it at Ion, who unleashed blasts of energy directly into the suit of armor, getting Titan away from him. Ion leaped into the air, firing multiple bursts of energy at Titan before crashing down into him, knocking him into the ground. Ion reached into Titan's battery on his chest, breaking it and absorbing some of the energy within it. "Damn it! My systems are down, he sucked away all the power!" Titan shouted, beckoning for his teammates to save him before further damage ensued. Ion aimed his arm at him, charging up a blast to end Titan's life once and for all.

 _Don't do it... you'll regret it..._ There it was again, the voice inside his head, the hesitation. It was the same feeling he felt when he had defeated Tracer a few days ago. Ion just stood there, without moving, completely clueless to Specter charging right at him. Specter tackled the Talon agent, punching him in the head multiple times, further cracking his helmet and widening the injury on the left side of his face. Specter tried to punch him one more time, but his fist was grabbed by Ion, who slowly started crushing his hand, forcing Specter off him.

"I can't use any of my systems, and the movement's a little sluggish with the power offline, but it's manageable, I'm coming!" Titan reassured as he sprinted towards the battle as fast as he could, while Specter and Tracer fought Ion.

With Ion distracted, Titan ran up to him and punched him hard in the face, knocking him back into yet another wall.

The three quickly surrounded Ion again, making sure he didn't move this time.

"Give it up you bastard, we have you surrounded AND we outnumber you. You can't win this fight." Titan said, significantly angry at the Talon agent in front of him, for various reasons. Ion got up slowly. He couldn't see anything with his helmet cracked and blood slowly leaking from his injury. He had to take the helmet off if he wanted to keep the fight going. Slowly, he reached for his headgear, and took it off, dropping the broken helmet on the ground.

Immediately, the trio froze, their minds in complete shock and disbelief.

"Nathan..."


	31. Unlikely reunion

"Holy shit... Nathan you're alive... You're alive! I can't believe it! But... why would you work for them, for Talon? I thought we were friends!" Tracer said before the not so dead Aura, or Ion.

"Why do you call me that? I am not Aura, or Nathan. Aura's dead." Nathan replied, under the effects of Talon's brainwashing.

"What did Talon do to you... Nate, you're our friend, we thought you died when Talon kidnapped you but clearly that's not the case, and whatever they did to you or told you, you have to forget it! Clearly some part of you must realize that. Why else would you have spared Tracer?" Titan explained, trying desperately to get his friend back.

"Why should I believe you... I have a job to do." Nathan said, blasting an energy ray into the wall, attempting to rush towards the data consoles deeper in the base and get what he came for.

"No! You're not leaving! Not after what just happened!" Specter growled, grappling the Talon agent mid-air, and pulling him back, angering him.

Ion instead turned around in the direction he was being grappled, and took advantage of the pull to pick up some speed, tackling Specter hard and knocking him down with him. Ion held up his fist, ready to slam it down into the vigilante.

"Hey, Nathan. Its me, Alex! Remember? You taught me how to actually make friends with people... and stuff. Don't knock me out, please?" Specter managed to get out.

Ion did recognize the name, and to some extent he remembered who Alex was. Though he couldn't explain how or where he got that information. The three were trying really hard to convince him he WAS Aura from what he was getting from the agents in front of him. But that wasn't enough, he needed answers. He couldn't proceed with his mission either. The Overwatch agents clearly had no intention of harming him when they recognized him, which he didn't know how they did, but they would prevent him from extracting the data he needed. So, as the agents had their guard down, he decided to gather some data of his own.

Ion got off Specter abruptly. _You... I remember you..._ He thought, looking at Titan. The Talon agent charged at his target, hitting him hard and knocking him out, and then carrying him away with him away from the facility by blasting a hole in the roof, leaving Specter and Tracer behind, dumbfounded.

"Bloody hell he just kidnapped Titan!" Tracer cried out, running as fast as she could after the Talon agent and her teammate, and Specter followed suit, grappling out of the compound. But it was no use, Ion was long gone by now.

He had no doubt that the Overwatch agents would try their hardest to chase him down and find him, and they would do the best they could to find their teammate. Surely they were worried sick about what would happen, and surely they would spend hours searching for him, but Ion was not worried, and doubted that he would be found. Luckily for them, Ion had no plans of harming, killing, or taking his hostage to Talon, for now.

 **Time skip...**

Ion had taken refuge in a Talon safehouse inside the city of Oasis, where he spend the next few days with his hostage. He had removed his enemy's armor, and left him in a bed for him to rest until he awoke. For the time being, he contacted Moira and explained the situation.

"Ion, good to hear from you again. Have you got your hands on the tech I require?" Moira asked sharply.

"Unfortunately, no. This time, when I arrived with my squad, Overwatch was already there." Ion said.

"Impossible! There should be no way they could have known. Care to elaborate?" Moira growled, clearly annoyed at the inconvenience.

"I do not know how they were aware of our attack. But when my squad entered the building they were immediately ambushed and eliminated by Overwatch agents. The enemy predicted our every move, and they trapped me inside the facility, and I was outnumbered. I managed to get away, but I couldn't get close to the data consoles. I will stay in this safehouse for the next few days, and plan my attack. If all goes right, I will strike at night and try to get in and out undetected." Ion explained, gaining a slow nod from his superior.

"Understood. I will grant you this second chance, considering the circumstances. Let us keep quiet about this. The only way Overwatch could be getting information about our operations with anticipation is through a spy, and I don't want this getting out. Dismissed." Moira said, and ended the call, leaving Ion to his own devices. He intentionally left out the fact that he captured Titan. He didn't want him getting into Talon's hands, and he captured the agent strictly for his own purposes.

Now, all that he could do was wait for Titan to wake up. He changed into some more casual clothes, and tended his wound on his face with a medkit and some nanotech that were stored there by Moira. They weren't as advanced as what he was originally after, but it got the job done and closed his injuries.

He figured it was only fair to give Titan a dose as well. He wasn't worried that Titan would try to fight back with his wounds healed. He didn't have any weapons, and he wasn't a superhuman like Ion was, so he decided to treat him.

Ion grabbed a syringe and injected it into his hostage, and some of his bruises fixed themselves. He figured any more serious wounds were getting the same treatment. However, Titan was still asleep.

The Talon agent briefly left the room, preparing himself a coffee mug, before preparing a second one for his captive.

He reflected about some things as his coffee brewed. Ion found this level of empathy and solidarity towards the Overwatch agent to be extremely unusual. He knew he wasn't supposed to feel, much like Widowmaker, but as he found out, he was starting to experience emotion just like anyone else. It was numb, but it was there, and that ability had increased over the past few months. He somewhat enjoyed the feeling, so he kept it a secret. He knew that his emotionless state was supposed to make him effective, merciless, and he didn't want Talon to fret over such a thing.

He also reflected on how the Overwatch agents _knew_ him. Perhaps even on a personal level. They had, in fact, referred to him as a close friend. He had no clue how that could even be possible if he really was Thomas Cooper. He thought on what Talon told him happened. He was told that he had suffered a concussion in a mission prior to his volunteering in the rebirth program, and that, combined with the chemicals of the serum, ended in some memory loss. But, if his research was correct, the chemicals that composed the serum were extremely volatile, and that the powers Aura obtained from them were merely luck. However, his own powers appeared to be an exact replica of Aura's, and if the serum really was that volatile, such a perfect result seemed nearly impossible. He figured that Talon's scientists could have found a way to perfect it, but it seemed too perfect of an outcome.

The whole story he was given seemed extremely unlikely, too convenient. And with the alleged dreams, or perhaps even flashbacks he was experiencing in the last few days, it led him to believe that perhaps the Overwatch agents were speaking the truth. Then again, why would they be so desperate to turn a Talon agent they didn't even know. Although he was skeptical, he wasn't turning on Talon, not now, at least.

If they were to be believed, then Talon did a lot for him, and breathed new life into, well, his life. All of this was the main reason he captured Titan. For some reason, Titan appeared in last night's dream, perhaps he was even featured in it. And after the dream, he remembered, Titan, _Tyler_. He remembered him, almost as a close friend. That's why he was here, after all.

The Talon agent snapped out of his thoughts, realizing the coffee had been finished for quite a few minutes by now. He filled two mugs and walked back to the main room. As he walked in, the Overwatch agent slowly opened his eyes, and immediately entered a state of panic, unsure of where he was in the first place.

"What the- Where am I! What is this place... Wait, where is Lena and Alex? Where is Nathan?!" Titan rambled frantically, before noticing the Talon agent in front of him, holding two mugs.

"Calm down, Tyler. You're not in trouble. Here, I made this for you." Ion said, handing him the mug, sitting down next to him.

"Th-Thanks, Nate. Why did... Why did you bring me here?" Tyler asked weakly.

"I'm still not sure about you calling me Nathan..." Ion responded, almost growling.

"But, but its who you are! What did Talon even tell you?" Tyler asked, demanding an answer.

"My name is Thomas Cooper. When I woke up with these new powers that's what I remembered. Everything else seemed a blur. But now, I'm not so sure... That's... That's why you're here." Ion said, taking a sip from his mug.

Tyler blinked slowly, realizing what the Talon agent wanted. Maybe he was starting to remember things about his past life. Then he realized, Nathan referred to him by his real name, implying that, at least to some extent, Nathan remembered him. That had to be why he spared Tracer, and why Nathan was sparing him right now.

"Thomas Cooper? Really? That's the best they could come up with? You have to realize that's bullshit, right? Come on Nate... You're Aura! You're my friend. Think about it, why would I, why would we, be trying so hard to convince you if you were just any Talon goon." Tyler said, matching what the Talon agent had thought about earlier.

"I have been having... visions, maybe they're flashbacks, for the past few days. First, I was tied up to some sort of device. I couldn't move, and I felt... pain. I could feel my mind going numb, and empty, in a way. That was after I... spared Tracer. And then, I had a vision about you. I was in an Overwatch Watchpoint. I could see other agents, but you seemed to be the centerpiece of it all. In the dream, we spoke as though we were very close friends. When I woke up, I remembered more and more about things I had no way of knowing. Now, I can feel when I shouldn't feel at all. I remember people I don't know. I am recalling events that never happened to me. And now that I think back on it all; what I was told, how I lost my memory after the rebirth program... It all seems to perfect to be true. I don't know what side I can trust; Talon claims to have done so much for me, and yet here you are. I don't know what to do. I need answers, I need someone to help me figure this whole thing out." Ion explained.

"Nate, I think you already know the answer to all this. Talon did this to you. Aura never died, they just tried to brainwash you and add their own twisted memories to make you into their tool. Maybe they didn't ever succeed in erasing your memories, they just suppressed them, just like they numbed your emotions, and now its all coming back to you. You said it yourself, it all seems too perfect and too convenient. Nate, surely you will remember more over time, and you'll realize Talon is lying to you and using you. You have to come back to us, we can help you get away from Talon and give you your old life back!" Tyler said, practically begging the Talon agent to come with him.

"I'm not sure! The things Talon told me, they're in my head, like they were there all along, like they are the truth! But now with all of these memories coming back to me I don't know what to believe... It's a lot to process, I need time to think... And I can't just turn on Talon like that, its not that easy." Ion replied.

"Well, you said you wanted help, and in that case, I'm here for you. Just ask if you need anything." Tyler said, setting his hand on the Talon agent's shoulder reassuringly.

"Thanks... There appears to be a mole in Talon that's sending information to Overwatch. Surely you're aware?" Ion suddenly changed the subject, gaining a nod from Tyler.

"Yeah, Winston told us about it, they were the reason why we could ambush you. Wait, is it you by any chance?" Tyler replied.

"What? No. But I will share this with you. This is all I can say for certain, but now that Talon has succeeded in creating super soldiers, they are planning a huge attack, somewhere. Moira wanted to use her designs, the ones I was sent to recover, to fuel this attack. Doomfist and Markus talk about this all the time, this... this great conflict that will make humanity mighty and strong, and those that are weak will be forgotten. I adopted this ideology at one point, but with all that's happened, I'm not sure I agree anymore. I just think its best you should know, if you're not prepared, this could be the beginning of a series of attacks that could change the world. I know I work for Talon, but I'm not sure this is what I want for the world. And with all that's happening to me, I'm starting to highly doubt Talon has been honest to me, about my past, about who I am, everything." Ion said.

"Wait, a huge attack!? Where? If you let me go I could tell Overwatch about this, maybe we can come to an agreement with the UN, make us legal again, or something." Tyler said, worried about Talon's planned attack.

"I'm not sure where the first attack will be, but it will be somewhere important. And I wasn't planning on turning you over to Talon, you do realize that, right? I captured you because for personal reasons, because I wanted your help, not to make you Talon's toy." Ion reassured.

"Wait, so Talon doesn't know I'm here?" Tyler asked, and Ion shaked his head in a silent 'no'.

"I planned for you to stay here for the rest of the day, so we could work on repairing your armor, and you would leave early in the morning, tomorrow." Ion explained.

"Wait, what about Moira's designs. Will you attack the Oasis facility again?" Tyler asked.

"I told Moira I would... But, I'm not sure. I'm already lying to Talon by keeping my emotions a secret and by keeping you a secret, maybe I can lie about this too. Maybe I can tell her that her designs have gone missing, or that they've been moved somewhere else, maybe even deleted..." Ion thought, unsure how to handle the situation.

"Well, we can figure this out together later, for now, let's get to work." Tyler said, standing up from the bed, following Nathan to where his armor was being kept.

He was aware Nathan wasn't switching sides, not yet. But what they achieved today was significant progress in getting Nathan back. He would let Nate think about the situation and figure things out. He hoped that in time, Nathan would ultimately agree with him and ditch Talon, but for now, he was too full of uncertainty for that.

Who knows, maybe in time the world could know Aura again.


	32. Torment

**3 months ago...**

"Now, from this day forward, Aura will be no more." Markus said, aiming his gun at Aura, firing it, hitting him in the lower torso. Aura hissed in pain, while Markus just looked at him and chuckled. "You really didn't think I would just kill you, right? There are still many things we have to discuss. And also, I needed footage of you getting shot to make your friends believe you're dead when I send them the recording. I must say, after all you've done, it is quite amusing to see you squirm in pain." Markus taunted, while Aura only looked up to him and glared.

"You... You're insane..." Aura said, coughing heavily afterwards, a small stream of blood dripping out of his mouth. Markus only laughed more.

"Perhaps, but at least I'm leading the winning side. Take him away." Markus ordered, walking away, while a pair of talon soldiers picked him up and carried him to an unknown room.

He was tied to a bed, while a team of scientists extracted his blood, and carried out cruel experiments on him. Days of torture passed, maybe even weeks, he had lost track of time already. The few, scarce moments he didn't spend tied to those damned machines, he spent locked up in a cell fortified by layers of concrete and metal.

It was morning already, and the same pair of talon soldiers came to him and carried him to the experimentation room, as expected. Nathan caught a glimpse of the data being displayed in the scientists' monitors before being tied down again. Then he realized, they were trying to isolate his super soldier serum from his blood, but to no avail. He figured they were trying to boost their soldiers even more than before. _Power hungry maniacs_... He thought.

More days passed, and his complexion became pale, and bruised. He felt lucky Talon was still even feeding him, so at least there was that. Then eventually, the soldiers stopped coming every morning to carry him to the room. Instead, a new pair of soldiers came in, and carried him to a different room. "Aw, where did the last two goons go. I was getting used to them, and I didn't even get their names." Aura joked, trying to seem confident, but was terrified inside. The soldiers simply grunted and carried him in silence. Aura spoke up again. "Why the change in routine?" He asked, in a more serious tone.

The soldiers simply looked at him for a moment, until one of them decided to speak up. "The scientists' experiments hit a dead end. Those damn chemicals of yours are way too unstable to replicate, so we've been tasked with taking you to the interrogation chamber." The soldier said.

The trio entered the room. It was dark, with only a strange chair in the middle and a desk in the corner. He was sat and tied down unto the chair, and the soldiers left without a word. A bright light was forced unto his face, and the interrogator stepped out of the darkness, holding a baton.

"I'll ask only one question... where is the new Overwatch base?" The interrogator said, breaking the silence. Aura seemed confused. "New base?"

"Yes, their new base. After Sombra broke Pulse out and kidnapped you, we returned some time later with a larger squadron, and the base was deserted. So... where is the new base!?" The interrogator shouted, slamming his baton near the Overwatch agent, attempting to intimidate him.

Aura raised an eyebrow at the statement. The fact that Overwatch would change Watchpoint seemed a given, but it was still new information for him. In fact, he truly didn't know where his allies were currently stationed.

"That's a surprise even for me. I don't know." Aura said flatly. The interrogator didn't seem to believe him.

"Liar. You are an Overwatch agent, and you have knowledge of your Watchpoints' locations. Now tell me where your allies moved to..." The interrogator growled.

"I'm telling you, they moved after I got captured, so I don't know where they are." Aura said, but the talon agent didn't seem quite convinced.

"So, you want the hard way, huh..." The interrogator said coldly, striking Aura across the arm with his baton.

Aura wouldn't have it. As soon as the interrogator headed to the desk to grab a new weapon to hurt him with, Aura attempted to break free, managing to get one arm free. Without warning, the interrogator turned around violently and shot him in the chest. "You try to make a move, and you die." The interrogator said coldly, as more talon soldiers emerged from the shadows, aiming their rifles at the Overwatch agent. Of course there was more soldiers watching him. Stupid. He settled back down, feeling defeated, as a few soldiers approached his chair and restored the restraints, even tightening them. Whatever slither of hope he had left was shattered.

The interrogator walked up to him, holding a crowbar, patting it in his hands menacingly. Aura could only glare back and growl. "Do. Your. Worst."

Days of interrogation passed. When he refused to tell Talon about the whereabouts of Overwatch, he was beaten, bruised and cut with progressively worsened weapons. When they realized they wouldn't get a location out of him, they tried to get intel on the agents themselves, to which they also failed. He endured over a week of torture, with each day becoming even worse than the last. With each day, various bruises, cuts and wounds accumulated on his skin, and on the last day, when Talon finally gave up with the interrogation, he could barely walk or stand, collapsing as soon as he was forced up by the soldiers.

He spent the next few days in his cell. Occasionally some of the talon staff would leave food for him, but he stopped trying to eat. He just wanted it all to end.

Hours passed by, until it was midnight. All this time, Pulse had only been able to watch in horror as Talon tortured his best friend, though at that point he doubted Nathan would want anything to do with him. He decided to pass by his friend's cell. As soon as Nathan noticed his friend-turned-enemy, he sat up, and a look of fury settled on his face, his eyes igniting with energy.

"You... You BASTARD! Look what they've done to me... because of you..." Aura said, as Pulse simply watched in silence just outside the cell's reinforced glass wall, his mask hiding any trace of emotion. The Overwatch agent tried to get up to face his opponent, struggling and collapsing unto his knees multiple times before reaching the wall, putting his hands against it to support himself.

"I thought we were friends, Anthony. When I found out you were a Talon agent I was heartbroken, but... I somehow still felt that there was hope for you. But after all this, it's clear you're just another villain in this goddamned war. And now, I'm stuck here, in this cell, being tortured and tormented every day, because of YOU! I want to make that very clear... this... IS ON YOU!" Aura shouted in rage, accusing Pulse of all the atrocities that had been committed on him. He stopped his ranting, tears flowing down from his eyes, and a few forced, audible breaths.

"Why, Anthony... Why would you do this? I... I wish I could turn back the time, go back to the times when there was promises of always having each other's backs, or lazy video game hangouts, but I guess everything's different now, right?" Aura said, unimpressed, sighing deeply and letting his face rest upon the glass, closing his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Pulse said softly, causing the other agent to look back up at him.

"That's all you have to say? That you're sorry?" Aura asked, annoyed. The talon agent simply kept staring firmly.

"The council has decided that the experiments and the interrogation have been unsuccesful. Now they're debating over your fate. Many of them are arguing that they should kill you. I hope, that for your sake, the punishment they decide for you isn't too terrible..." Pulse stated flatly, walking away from the cell. Although the helmet hid it, streams of tears were starting to form on the talon agent's face.

Aura simply sighed, at this point, it didn't surprise him that Anthony would just leave him. Nothing really did surprise him anymore.

With shaky legs, he walked back to the sad excuse of a bed that was inside the cell, lying down, and trying to get more rest. A few hours passed. It was very early in the morning and the sky was still dark. The halls were empty, but he still felt someone watching him. He looked at the glass wall, finding a dark, feminine silhouette looking right at him. A couple of purple flashes sparked on the other side of the glass, and the door suddenly opened. The figure promptly walked in; it was none other than Sombra.

Aura recognized her almost immediately, and he felt enraged. He got up abruptly, trying to punch the woman in front of him. Sombra easily dodged his blow, and the Overwatch agent collapsed unto the ground, overwhelmed by his wounds. "Calmate, I'm not here to hurt you." Sombra said, confusing the agent.

"Wait, you aren't?" Aura asked as he slowly got off the ground. Sombra offered him a hand and helped him up.

"Of course not. Come on big guy, sit down." Sombra said as she helped Aura back into the bed.

A = Aura S = Sombra

A: "So, why are you here?"

S: "To talk."

A: "I don't think Talon would approve of this."

S: "They don't have to. I hacked the cameras. They're now playing a loop of whatever was happening here five minutes ago. Considering you sat down here without moving for over two hours, I'd say it will look pretty believable.

A: "Wait, so you're going against Talon?"

S: "Well, here's the thing. I have loved being able to use Talon's great reach and power to reach my own goals and all, but that usefulness is starting to run out, and I want out. When it does run out, I want Talon gone, and I think you can help me out with that."

A: "Hold on... You want to DESTROY Talon? But... you even helped kidnap me! I'm here because of you!"

S: "Eh, just keeping up appearances, following orders, being a good girl so that it's even more surprising when Talon crumbles down thanks to me. It really was nothing personal, in fact, it could even be convenient for me."

A: "How would this be beneficial to me, or to you, or anyone, really?"

Sombra didn't respond. Instead, she brought up a hologram of some brand new Talon schematics.

S: "Because of this."

In the hologram was what appeared to be implants of some sort. It looked like a pair of triangular metal sheets that would be implanted on somebody's temples.

A: "And that is... what, exactly?"

S: "Talon has already decided what they're gonna do to you."

A: "That would be?"

S: "You're essentially becoming Widowmaker 2.0, and these bad boys are a part of the process."

Aura's eyes widened in horror at the prospect. It made sense, in a way. If Talon couldn't get anything useful out of him, then they would take advantage of the situation and brainwash him. Of course they would. Still, it didn't make the idea of being brainwashed any less terrifying.

S: "Don't worry. I'm coming up with a plan to help you out of this. Though I'm afraid you will have to get brainwashed for that to happen."

A: "Why? Why are you helping me with this?"

S: "Because Talon will be so certain of your loyalty once you're brainwashed, that it will be devastating when you recover and unleash your rage unto them. And besides, its a nice thing to do."

A: " _Sigh_ , fine. Tell me more about this."

S: "They're calling it the 'Ion' project, or the Rebirth project. They're planning on numbing your emotions and hiding your memories, so that they can add their own little fake story, which they're already working on by the way, and make you believe you're a talon super soldier or whatever. It's a similar process to what they did with Widowmaker. The only differences are that you won't turn blue, since you're not a sniper, and instead of a full reconditioning, they're using these implants to keep your emotions and past memories suppressed, making it so that only what they tell you sticks. Again, more brainwashing. It will achieve a similar effect to Widowmaker, but with these implants, they have to spend less time and money on reconditioning. However, that's actually good for us."

A: "Why?"

S: "Because it means that what will be keeping your brain together is tech, and that is hackable. It's pretty new tech at that, but I'll find my workarounds in time, and when I do, I'll be able to deactivate them. This is part of the plan I've been coming up with. Unfortunately, you might have to spend a couple of months as Talon's new favorite toy while I figure it all out, and also to gain their trust, in a way. But, soon, I'll start to weaken the effects of the implants, so you might experience quick flashbacks or small bits of emotion you won't be able to understand initially. When the time is right, I'll be able to shut those things off, and you will remember your past, even this conversation. Although its not guaranteed that you will remember _everything_. Those implants are a special wall of security to make sure there are no mishaps, but even with the shortened reconditioning Talon has planned for you, it could make it hard to remember a lot, especially from earlier on in your life. But, I imagine you will remember enough to want to crush some Talon skulls."

A: "Right... So, when will the time be right?"

S: "You'll see... Oh and one more thing, even if you remember enough before I turn off those implants, just play along with what Talon says. You'll be able to turn against Talon all you want when those things are shut off, but until then, I really do need you to keep up appearances."

Aura huffed, unsatisfied.

A: "What will you do until then?"

S: "Well, apart from gaining more info on the tech that Talon's gonna use on you. I'll send data about Talon ops to Overwatch. Talon's gonna have a much tougher time if their enemy knows what they're doing early. Oh, and about Pulse. I know you two were really close, and I know you're obviously upset with him. But trust me, even if he doesn't show it, he feels extremely guilty about what's happening to you, and he was really hesitant to kidnap you in the first place. If that's any consolation..."

The fact that Pulse at least felt bad for what he did made him smile slightly. Sombra stood up from where she was sitting and started walking towards the glass wall.

"By the way, you might wanna lie down again. As soon as I'm out of this room, the cameras are going back to normal. It would be best if you were in the same pose you were earlier. Buena suerte, amigo." Sombra said, giving her goodbyes, and the lights quickly flashed. After that, she was gone, the cell door was closed, and the cameras were working, as if nothing ever happened.

Once a few minutes passed, Aura stood up again, sitting down on his bed, and putting his hands on his face, sighing heavily.

"I'm so fucked."


End file.
